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Space Policy Directive-1 mandates that “the United States will lead the return of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations.” In addition, the Vice President stated that “It is the stated policy of this administration and the United States of America to return American astronauts to the Moon within the next five years,” that is, by 2024. These efforts, under the umbrella of the recently formed Artemis Program, include such historic goals as the flight of the first woman to the Moon and the exploration of the lunar south-polar region. Among the top priorities of the Artemis Program is the return of a suite of geologic samples, providing new and significant opportunities for progressing lunar science and human exploration. In particular, successful sample return is necessary for understanding the history of volatiles in the Solar System and the evolution of the Earth-Moon system, fully constraining the hazards of the lunar polar environment for astronauts, and providing the necessary data for constraining the abundance and distribution of resources for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Here we summarize the ef-forts of the Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office (hereafter referred to as the Curation Office) to ensure the success of Artemis sample return (per NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 7100.10E).

Lava channels are features seen throughout the inner Solar System, including on Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Flow emplacement is therefore a crucial process in the shaping of planetary surfaces. Many studies, including some completed by members of this team at the December 1974 lava flow, have investigated the dynamics of lava flow emplacement, both on Earth and on the Moon and how pre-flow terrain can impact final channel morphology, but far fewer have focused on how the compositional characteristics of the substrate over which a flow was em-placed influenced its final flow morphology. Within the length of one flow, it is common for flows to change in morphology, a quality linked to rheology (a function of multiple factors including viscosi-ty, temperature, composition, etc.). The relationship between rheology and temperature has been well-studied but less is known about the relationship between an older flow's chemistry and how the interaction between this flow and the new flow might affect lava rheology and therefore emplacement dynamics. Lava erosion. Through visual observations of active terrestrial flows, mechanical erosion by flowing lava has been well-documented. Lava erosion by which flow composition is altered as the active lava melts and assimilates the pre-flow terrain over which it moves is also hypothesized to affect channel formation. However, there is only one previous field study that geochemically documents the process in recent basaltic flow systems.

Investigating recent eruptions on Earth is crucial to improving understanding of relationships between eruption dynamics and final lava flow morphologies. In this study, we investigated eruptions in Holuhraun, Iceland, and Kilauea, Hawaii to gain insight into the lava dynamics near the source vent, the initiation of lava channels, and the origin of down-channel features. Insights are applied to Rima Bode on the lunar nearside to deduce the sequence of events that formed this lunar sinuous rille system.These insights are crucial to correctly interpreting whether the volcanic features associated with Rima Bode directly relate to eruption conditions at the vent and, thus, can help us understand those eruption dynamics, or, alternatively, whether the features formed as a result of more localized influences on lava flow dynamics. For example, if the lava channel developed early in the eruption and was linked to pulses in vent activity, its morphology can be analyzed to interpret the flux and duration of the eruption. Conversely, if the lava channel initiated late in the eruption as the result of a catastrophic breaching of lava that had previously pooled within the vent [e.g., 1], then the final channel morphology will not indicate eruption dynamics but rather local dynamics associated with that breach event. Distinguishing between these two scenarios is crucial for correctly interpreting the intensity and duration of volcanic history on the Moon.

Lava channels are features seen throughout the inner Solar System, including on Earth, the Moon, and Mars. Flow emplacement is therefore a crucial process in the shaping of planetary surfaces. Many studies have investigated the dynamics of lava flow emplacement, both on Earth and on the Moon [1,2,3] but none have focused on how the compositional and structural characteristics of the substrate over which a flow was emplaced influenced its final flow morphology. Within the length of one flow, it is common for flows to change in morphology, a quality linked to lava rheology (a function of multiple factors including viscosity, temperature, composition, etc.). The relationship between rheology and temperature has been well-studied [4,5,6] but less is understood about the relationship between a pre-flow terrain's chemistry and how the interaction between this flow and the new flow might affect lava rheology and therefore emplacement dynamics. Lava erosion. Through visual observations of active terrestrial flows, lava erosion has been well-documented [i.e. 7,8,9,10]. Lava erosion is the process by which flow composition is altered as the active lava melts and assimilates the pre-flow terrain over which it moves. Though this process has been observed, there is only one instance of where it was been geochemically documented.