South Pole-Aitken basin sample Return and eXploration (SPARX) Science Definition Team Report: Findings and Recommendations for a Future Lunar Mission

Sample return from the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA) has long been recognized as a high priority destination for lunar science, appearing as a recommended medium-class NASA mission in multiple United States National Academies of Sciences Planetary Science decadal surveys. The primacy of the site arises from the unique combination of its size, antiquity, and location on the lunar farside. The South Pole-Aitken basin presents the ideal target destination to test nearly 60 years of lunar science hypotheses. Despite the recognized importance of the science, mission proposals for sample return have previously been hampered by a combination of costs and technology. During the development of the 2023-2032 Origins, Worlds, and Life (OWL) decadal survey, a mission concept named “Endurance” demonstrated the feasibility of a long-duration, long-traverse mission that could accomplish the majority of defined priority lunar science investigations at a cost cap that was commensurate with New Frontiers scale missions. This mission concept leveraged new developments in rover technology, autonomous systems development, and concepts of operations developed by the Intrepid Pre-decadal Mission Concept Study, in conjunction with the advent of technological advances in the commercial exploration marketplace. Using the Endurance point design, the OWL advocated for the development of an SPA Sample Return mission as the highest priority mission for the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP). In response to this recommendation, NASA convened the South Pole Aitken basin sample Return and eXploration (SPARX) Science Definition Team (SDT) to provide analysis on prioritized science objectives and implementation architectures for a South Pole-Aitken Basin sample return mission.

The SPARX SDT report will be released to the community in Spring 2026, following review by NASA. The report will include descriptions of prioritized science goals and objectives and the associated requirements for both in-situ and terrestrial laboratory measurements. The report will provide a description of a baseline implementation architecture that demonstrates a notional traverse and mission architecture for accomplishing all of the listed science objectives. Additionally, the report will include a discussion of multiple mission implementation profiles, with recommendations for their future selection criteria. Finally, the report will contain a discussion of future technologic and programmatic factors that could affect the future implementation of the mission, including the role of astronauts, commercial exploration, and international participation. This presentation will provide an overview of the newly released SPARX report, focusing on the overarching recommendations for implementation architectures, measurement requirements, and high-priority items for the next phases of mission development.