Summary
NASA selected three payload suites to investigate lunar hazards, possible underground lava tubes, ice and surface conditions. The planned investigations are intended to inform science and operational planning for a sustained presence on the Moon.
NASA has selected three science payload suites to investigate the lunar environment and inform plans for a sustained human presence on the Moon. Announced on Sept. 30, 2026, the selections were made through NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program. NASA says the payloads are planned to travel to the lunar surface through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative as part of the Moon Base Program.
The investigations address different planning questions: how to monitor environmental hazards, whether a lunar pit connects to an underground lava tube, and where ice and operationally useful surface conditions may be found. These are planned investigations; NASA’s release describes their objectives rather than results from completed measurements.
Three investigations, three lunar questions
LEMS-SP: monitoring the lunar environment
The Lunar Environment Monitoring Station – South Pole (LEMS-SP) is designed as an autonomous, long-term environmental and hazard monitoring station. Its instruments are intended to track falling micrometeoroids and the abundance of volatiles—materials that can readily become gas—in the Moon’s extremely thin outer layer of gases. A short-period seismometer will detect seismic events.
NASA says these observations could help assess hazards to Moon Base hardware. Long-term monitoring would provide information about environmental conditions over time, rather than a single snapshot.
GIMLI: looking beneath a lunar pit
The Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation (GIMLI) will be deployed at the Marius Hills Pit. It is designed to scan below the surface and investigate whether the pit leads into a large underground lava tube, while also supporting research into lunar volcanic processes.
If such a space exists, it could offer natural protection from temperature extremes and radiation. Establishing whether a pit opens into a larger underground feature could therefore inform future choices about where and how habitats are planned. The possibility of a shelter is conditional on what the investigation finds.
DISCO: measuring ice and surface behaviour
The Depth Imager with Spectral and Color Optics (DISCO) is intended to make direct, on-the-ground measurements of ice in small, extremely cold lunar locations known as micro-cold traps. NASA says the payload will investigate where ice occurs and how much is present. It will also study how the surface responds to rocket exhaust and how stable it is for movement across the terrain.
Those measurements could help planners evaluate both the use of lunar ice as a resource and the practical demands of surface operations. The release does not specify a delivery or landing date for the payloads.
Why the measurements matter
A lunar outpost would have to contend with environmental hazards, find workable routes and sites, and assess whether local materials can support operations. The three selections approach those challenges through monitoring, subsurface investigation and direct study of ice and surface behaviour. NASA’s CLPS initiative is the delivery pathway named for the payloads; the agency says it works with American companies to transport science, exploration and technology payloads to the Moon’s surface and orbit.
Together, the investigations are intended to supply information for future mission and habitat planning. Their practical value will depend on the observations made after the payloads reach and operate on the Moon.