Swiss instrument will travel on a NASA moon mission

University of Bern/ Peter Keresztes Schmidt

A mass spectrometer designed at the University of Bern will be used for chemical analysis of moon rocks.

The Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometer (LIMS) will be heading to the moon as early as 2027 as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payoad Services (CLPS) initiative, the university announced on Thursday.

Landing in the south polar region of the moon will enable LIMS to carry out stationary measurements on site. According to researchers, this region is particularly interesting because certain elements occur there whose isotopes make it possible to determine the age of the material.

+ Switzerland and the first Moon landing

The university was already involved in NASA’s Apollo moon mission in the 1960s with a solar wind sail. When Buzz Aldrin became the second man to get out of the lunar module on July 21, 1969, the first thing he did was unfurl the Swiss-made solar wind sail and stick it into the lunar soil, according to the university.

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