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Aeolus is a mission to provide the first set of global, seasonal, and diurnal data to characterize winds and study the climate of Mars. Aeolus measures surface and atmospheric temperatures, aerosol abundances, and Doppler shifts in atmospheric spectral lines. The payload includes a system of four of a new type of miniaturized Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer (SHS) paired to two orthogonal viewing telescopes that can measure CO2 (daytime absorption) and O2 (day and night emission) lines in the Martian atmosphere. The Thermal Limb Sounder (TLS) instrument measures atmospheric temperature profiles and aerosol (H2O ice clouds, dust) profiles, and the Surface Radiometric Sensor Package (SuRSeP) measures the total reflected solar radiance, and surface temperatures down to 140K. These combined spectral and thermal measurements will provide a new understanding of the global energy balance, dust transport processes, and climate cycles in the Martian atmosphere. The mission concept for Aeolus consists of a single sub-100 kg secondary spacecraft in a highly inclined orbit, allowing it to pass over all local times. Aeolus attains global coverage of the surface for a mission duration of one Martian year, to capture climate patterns during each Martian season. This paper gives an overview of the Aeolus payload, spacecraft, and the methodology used to mature the Aeolus mission concept.

In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) focuses on using local resources for mission consumables. The approach can reduce mission cost and risk. Lunar polar volatiles, e.g. water ice, have been detected via remote sensing measurements and represent a potential resource for both humans and propellant. The exact nature of the horizontal and depth distribution of the ice remains to be documented in situ. NASA's Resource Prospector mission (RP) is intended to investigate the polar volatiles using a rover, drill, and the RESOLVE science package. RP component level hardware is undergoing testing in relevant lunar conditions (cryovacuum). In March 2015 a series of drilling tests were undertaken using the Honeybee Robotics RP Drill, Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS), and sample capture mechanisms (SCM) inside a 'dirty' thermal vacuum chamber at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The goal of these tests was to investigate the ability of NIRVSS to monitor volatiles during drilling activities and assess delivery of soil sample transfer to the SCMs in order to elucidate the concept of operations associated with this regolith sampling method.

The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) was a lunar orbiter launched in September 2013 that investigated the composition and temporal variation of the tenuous lunar exosphere and dust environment. A major goal of the mission was to characterize the dust exosphere prior to future lunar exploration activities, which may alter the lunar environment. The Ultraviolet/Visible Spectrometer (UVS) onboard LADEE addresses this goal, utilizing two sets of optics: a limbviewing telescope, and a solar-viewing telescope. We report on spectroscopic (approximately 280 - 820 nm) observations viewing down the lunar wake or along the 'lunar tail' from lunar orbit. Prior groundbased studies have observed the emission from neutral sodium atoms extended along the lunar tail, so often this region is referred to as the lunar sodium tail. UVS measurements were made on the dark side of the moon, with the UVS limb-viewing telescope pointed outward in the direction of the Moon's wake (almost anti-sun), during different lunar phases. These UVS observation activities sample a long column and allow the characterization of scattered light from dust and emission lines from atoms in the lunar tail. Observations in this UVS configuration show the largest excess of scattered blue light in our data set, indicative of the presence of small dust grains in the tail. Once lofted, nanoparticles may become charged and picked up by the solar wind, similar to the phenomena witnessed above Enceladus's northern hemisphere or by the STEREO/WAVES instrument while close to Earth's orbit. The UVS data show that small dust grains as well as atoms become entrained in the lunar tail.