Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Goddard’s ROLSES Instrument Heading To The Moon

Intuitive Machines said it moved the landing site for its IM-1 mission to the lunar south pole region at the request of NASA to better support Artemis. Credit: Intuitive Machines
Intuitive Machines said it moved the landing site for its IM-1 mission to the lunar south pole region at the request of NASA to better support Artemis. Credit: Intuitive Machines

No earlier than 14th February 2024, Goddard’s Radio wave Observation at the Lunar Surface of the photo-Electron Sheath (ROLSES) instrument will launch to the Moon’s South Polar region aboard Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS.

ROLSES is one of two NASA-provided instruments flying aboard IM-1 and is designed to observe the Moon’s surface environment in radio frequencies, to determine how natural and human-generated activity near the surface interacts with and could interfere with science conducted there.

ROLSES instrument antennas (left) and the Main Electronics Box (MEB) built by ETD for controlling the instrument (right) are part of the instrument delivered to Intuitive Machines (IM).
ROLSES instrument antennas (left) and the Main Electronics Box (MEB) built by ETD for controlling the instrument (right) are part of the instrument delivered to Intuitive Machines (IM).

The Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD) Mechanical Systems and Electrical Engineering Division teams in collaboration with Goddard’s Sciences and Exploration Directorate were responsible for designing, building, and integrating the instrument electronics, software, and integration to the instrument antenna.

The ROLSES instrument is headed up by Principal Investigator Dr. Natchimuthuk “Nat” Gopalswamy. Gopalswamy describes the design of ROLSES as being a very simple system. “We have four antennas which observe whatever radio emissions are present on the Moon,” said Gopalswamy. “These antennas are very long, about 8 feet (2.5 meters). But for launching they are packed into a small canister, about 8 inches (21 centimeters) in size.”

The ROLSES team successfully delivered the integrated instrument to the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander. A follow-on to this instrument, ROLSES-2, is already underway.

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