NASA announced on Friday that it has selected two new instruments to explore the lunar south pole on the Artemis IV mission. In a statement, Nicky Fox, associate administrator of NASA‘s Science Mission Directorate said that these two instruments will help “ensure the health and safety of our spacecraft and human explorers” and boost the agency’s efforts to conquer the Moon.
Artemis IV will be the fourth mission of NASA’s Artemis Program and the second to land astronauts on the lunar surface. The first landing mission is Artemis III that is likely to launch no earlier than 2027. Artemis II is also a crew mission scheduled to launch in February 2026 but the astronauts will return after orbiting the Moon.
BREAKING: @NASA has selected two science instruments, designed for #Artemis IV astronauts to set up on the lunar surface, that will advance space exploration. ⬇️
🔗: https://t.co/erYQtyFTxO pic.twitter.com/V92lATTtYC
— NASA Science (@NASAScience_) December 4, 2025
Instruments NASA selected for Artemis IV
The first of the two instruments to be deployed on the Moon’s surface is called the DUst and plaSma environmenT surveyor or DUSTER, which as the name suggests, will investigate lunar dust and the Moon’s plasma (charged particles) environment.
Led by Xu Wang of the University of Colorado Boulder, the DUSTER instrument suite will be mounted on a small rover named Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP). The suite contains the Electrostatic Dust Analyzer that will measure the charge, velocity, size, and flux of dust particles lofted from the lunar surface. Another tool in this suite is the Relaxation SOunder and differentiaL VoltagE (RESOLVE) to characterise the average electron density above the lunar surface.
The main objective is to study how the lunar dust, which is very sticky and abrasive, behave and respond to human presence.
NASA says its findings will help mitigate hazards to human health and spacecraft because lunar dust can cling to spacesuits and equipment, damage electronics and even pose health risks if inhaled. Wang’s team has received $24.8 million in funding from NASA for designing, building and operating DUSTER.
The second instrument is called the South Pole Seismic Station (SPSS) which is a seismometer to study the Moon’s interior structure. It will monitor real-time seismic environment and determine the rate at which the lunar surface is being struck by meteorites and how it will affect lunar operations. The Artemis IV crew will also conduct an additional experiment using a “thumper” that will generate seismic energy to survey the shallow structure around the landing site. A team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been awarded $25 million for the job.
NASA has selected nine candidate landing regions for the Artemis III mission in the lunar south pole. These regions were chosen based on scientific value like availability of water ice, terrain safety, abundant lighting, communication links and launch window compatibility. For missions after Artemis IV, NASA could look for more suitable locations beyond the polar region for broader exploration.
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