Workshop Location and Dates

The Apollo 17 ANGSA Workshop is scheduled for October 26–28, 2022, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas.

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 17 mission is in December 2022. By every metric, this mission to the Taurus-Littrow Valley (TLV) was the most accomplished of any of the Apollo missions to the Moon, leading to 50 years of extensive, continuing analytical investigations of its observations, samples, photography, and geophysical data. Using mobility offered by the lunar rover, 35.7 kilometers were traversed during three excursions (aka extravehicular activities or EVAs) of greater than 7 hours each. Active seismic, gravity, and electrical property data added three-dimensional context. During the EVAs, over 110 kilograms of rock and regolith samples were collected, and years of detailed analyses have placed them within the geologic context of the TLV locally and the Moon as a whole. These samples include a deep drill core nearly 3 meters in length and three double (70 centimeters) and two single (35 centimeters) drive tube cores that contain records of the history of both the Moon and the Sun. The double drive tube from Station 3 was never examined until recently, and the lower section of the core was sealed in a core sample vacuum container (CSVC). This drive tube and frozen samples collected from shadowed areas and the deep drill core are targets for the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) initiative.

The Apollo 17 surface activities, capabilities, training, crew makeup, and operations are an invaluable baseline for future human endeavors on the Moon’s surface during Artemis missions. New analyses of Apollo 17 samples enabled by ANGSA, NASA’s research and analysis funding programs, independent synthesis, and recent orbital and landed missions (e.g., LRO, LADEE, GRAIL, LCROSS, SELENE, Chandraynaan-1, and Chang’e missions) have fundamentally changed many of our concepts for the geology of the TLV as well as the Moon.

Purpose and Scope

The goals of this workshop include:

• Revisiting the TLV by integrating new geologic and exploration context, new ANGSA sample data, orbital observations, and the full breadth of data sets from all six Apollo landed missions for a fuller understanding of the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth
• Establishing links among multiple generations of lunar scientists and engineers as we prepare for our future on the Moon
• Focusing on scientific and design lessons learned from both Apollo and from ANGSA in preparation for near-term human exploration of the Moon

Topics

• New Apollo 17 sample and ANGSA results
• Lunar volatiles
• Magmatic evolution and volcanic, tectonic, and cratering history as informed by remote sensing studies and laboratory analyses of samples from the TLV
• Solar and terrestrial history
• Triggers and dynamics of lunar landslides and features of their deposits
• Nature of lunar basin massifs
• Nature of the lower crust and mantle
• Paleointensity and orientation of the global magnetic field
• Collecting-preservation-curating-analyzing lunar volatiles
• Future Apollo 17 collaborative studies preparing for the future of lunar exploration
• Examining the potential of pre- and post-cursor robotic missions.

Code of Conduct

USRA/LPI is committed to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race, religion, or other protected status. We do not tolerate harassment of meeting participants in any form. USRA/LPI expects that all participants will abide by this Code of Conduct, creating an environment free from harassment, discrimination, disruption, incivility, or violence of any kind. We expect participants to exercise consideration and respect in their speech and actions and refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior. Report issues, concerns, or violations of this Code of Conduct directly to USRA/LPI management at USRA-LPI Meetings Code of Conduct. The full USRA/LPI Code of Conduct can be found here.