Laser Ablation Ionization Mass Spectrometer (LIMS); NASA's July 2025 release calls it the Laser Ionization Mass Spectrometer¶
Blue Ghost Mission 4 · manifested · NASA payload
A laser mass spectrometer that analyzes lunar regolith grain by grain. A pulsed laser ablates and ionizes a tiny spot on each grain, and a reflectron time-of-flight mass analyzer measures its elements and isotopes. A Firefly-built robotic arm with a titanium shovel scoops regolith into the instrument's funnel on the lander deck; the instrument's own system sieves it and spreads it on a rotating carousel for the laser. The aim is the chemistry, and through isotopes the age, of south polar material. The team also wants to see how the lander's plume changed the regolith.
PI: Andreas Riedo (University of Bern), PI on NASA's CS-6 page; Peter Wurz (University of Bern) is the project leader
Built by: University of Bern, Physics Institute, Space Research and Planetary Sciences Division (Switzerland), with Swiss industry. Firefly builds the robotic arm and shovel that feed it. (university)
| Technology | science instrument (laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer), with its own sample handling system |
| Moon Base need | DN-010 L (The study's reading; NASA ties LIMS to no data gap. LIMS measures the element and mineral make-up of south polar regolith grains, the subject of DN-010 L, which says today's in situ data is mostly Apollo samples from equatorial mare sites. The fit is partial: DN-010 L asks for depth-resolved measurements 'across the exploration area', and LIMS samples the surface at one landing site. The team names ISRU and building-material choice as uses. A 2029 landing sits on the phase boundary: NASA's web pages give Phase 1 as 'Now–2029' and Phase 2 as '2029–2032', while Ignition deck 2 gives Phase 1 as 'Now through 2028'. The study reads it as Phase 2.) |
| Route onto CLPS | partner; No public call. LIMS is built and paid for outside NASA: Bern says ESA's PRODEX programme funds it, through the Swiss Space Office. Its team was designing it for a CLPS flight to the South Pole by its 2023 IEEE paper, and Bern announced the CLPS flight on 9 November 2023. NASA assigned it to Firefly's task order CS-6 (Blue Ghost Mission 4, $176.7 million, awarded 29 July 2025). NASA counts LIMS among its four CS-6 science payloads and calls the delivery a collaboration with the CSA and the University of Bern. Who chose LIMS, under what call or agreement, is not public; 'partner' is the study's reading.; 2023-11-09 (CLPS flight announced by Bern); 2025-07-29 (CS-6 award to Firefly) |
| Timeline | first funding not in public sources (LIMS development 'began more than 20 years ago'; when PRODEX funding for the CLPS instrument began is not public); first flight test not in public sources; selected by 2023 (team's IEEE paper); announced 2023-11-09; on Blue Ghost Mission 4 from 2025-07-29; launch no earlier than 2029 (Firefly); landing 2029 (NASA, target) |
| On the Moon | not yet flown |
| FO | none |
Flights before the Moon¶
None found in the public sources.
Heritage hardware¶
- design heritage (Bern laboratory LIMS, first designed for ESA's BepiColombo Mercury lander): Bern built two miniature LIMS instruments for a lander on Mercury in ESA's BepiColombo mission and improved the larger one for almost two decades, with three laboratory prototypes in use in 2023. The mass analyzer, laser and electronics follow that design; the sample handling system is new for CLPS. None of these has flown: Riedo says no space mission has used the technique before.
"These were originally intended for a lander on Mercury as part of the BepiColombo mission of ESA"
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: InSituLunarRegolithAnalysisbyLaser-BasedMassSpectrometry.pdf, page 5, section 4 (Prototype testing)"Currently, we have three prototype instruments in operation in our laboratory."
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: InSituLunarRegolithAnalysisbyLaser-BasedMassSpectrometry.pdf, page 6"The SHS is specially designed for the CLPS lander"
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: InSituLunarRegolithAnalysisbyLaser-BasedMassSpectrometry.pdf, abstract"no one before us has ever used this measurement technology on a space mission"
— Instrument from the University of Bern flies to the Moon, Andreas Riedo"The development of LIMS began more than 20 years ago"
— Instrument from the University of Bern flies to the Moon, Peter Wurz
- commercial part with flight heritage: The 2023 design chose a nanosecond microchip laser from a company whose lasers flew on NASA's OSIRIS-REx. Ground verification since then: a redesign to meet NASA's GEVS launch loads (an AlBeMet main structure), shaker tests, and sieve tests with lander tilts up to 10 degrees. Lunar gravity was imitated on the ground with light cork grains, not in flight.
"company producing it has flight heritage in NASA’s OSIRIS"
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: InSituLunarRegolithAnalysisbyLaser-BasedMassSpectrometry.pdf, page 4"This required the introduction of a monolithic main support structure fabricated from AlBeMet AM162"
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: SchmidtIEEE2025.pdf, Summary (2025)"To test sieving efficiencies in the lunar gravity environment, cork grains with low specific mass were used to simulate the reduced gravity."
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: SchmidtIEEE2025.pdf, abstract (2025)"each component is tested on the so-called shaker"
— From Bern to the Moon, Mars and Venus (Horizons, Swiss National Science Foundation magazine, 1 Ju…, Horizons, June 2023
Funding before the lunar flight¶
- Swiss Space Office (SERI) through ESA's PRODEX programme: the CLPS-LIMS flight instrument. No amount public. (ESA PRODEX (Switzerland); not in public sources (by 2023)): amount not in public sources
"The funding for LIMS is awarded by the European Space Agency’s ESA in the frame of the PRODEX programme"
— Instrument from the University of Bern flies to the Moon"The financial support by the Swiss Space Office through the ESA PRODEX program is gratefully acknowledged."
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: SchmidtIEEE2025.pdf, Acknowledgements (2025)
- Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Space Office: the laboratory LIMS line and the early CLPS design work. No amount public. (Swiss National Science Foundation; Swiss Space Office; not in public sources): amount not in public sources
"The financial support by the Swiss Space Office and the Swiss National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged."
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: InSituLunarRegolithAnalysisbyLaser-BasedMassSpectrometry.pdf, Acknowledgements (2023)
- No NASA development money found: no SBIR or USAspending award names LIMS or goes to the University of Bern. NASA pays for the ride and for the Firefly-built arm and shovel within the CS-6 task order ($176.7 million for the whole delivery); that is not LIMS's cost. (none found (NASA pays the CLPS delivery); not in public sources): amount not in public sources
"The instrument will utilize a Firefly-built robotic arm and Titanium shovel that will deploy to the lunar surface and support regolith excavation."
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA
How it got onto CLPS¶
"The current development of our LIMS instrument is for an application on a robotic mission within the Artemis CLPS program of NASA."
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: InSituLunarRegolithAnalysisbyLaser-BasedMassSpectrometry.pdf, abstract (2023 IEEE Aerospace Conference)"is to fly to the Moon with NASA as early as 2027, this time as part of a future NASA CLPS lunar delivery"
— Instrument from the University of Bern flies to the Moon, 9 Nov 2023"The Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Mission 4 lander will deliver four NASA CLPS science payloads to the lunar south pole."
— CS-6 Science - NASA Science"in a collaborative effort with the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and the University of Bern"
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA"NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, $176.7 million to deliver two rovers and three scientific instruments"
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA
On the Moon¶
Manifested on Blue Ghost Mission 4. Firefly targets a site about 40 km south of Mons Malapert on the rim of Haworth crater, with more than 12 days of surface operations. LIMS sits on the lander's top deck and gets its samples from the Firefly arm.
"approximately 40 km south of Mons Malapert on the rim of the Haworth Crater"
— Blue Ghost + Elytra: Lunar South Pole - Firefly Aerospace, Our Destination"funnel the sample into its collection unit on Blue Ghost’s top deck"
— Blue Ghost + Elytra: Lunar South Pole - Firefly Aerospace, LIMS paragraph
FO's role¶
Grade: none. No FO project, report or page names LIMS, its Bern team or a mass spectrometer. The study's earlier traceback did not check LIMS (the study's earlier feeder-line map: 'LIMS was not checked'); this record checks it and finds no link. Grade: none. The study's remark, not the team's: the team imitated lunar gravity on the ground with cork grains to test its sieve, and how regolith flows through a funnel and sieve in one-sixth g is the kind of question a lunar-gravity parabolic flight can test.
"LIMS was not checked."
— earlier finding of this study (not a public source)"cork grains with low specific mass were used to simulate the reduced gravity"
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: SchmidtIEEE2025.pdf, abstract
Who built it¶
"PI: Andreas Riedo, University of Bern"
— CS-6 Science - NASA Science"Lead development organization: University of Bern in Switzerland."
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA, 29 Jul 2025"Peter Wurz, Professor for Astrophysics at the University of Bern and Project Leader for LIMS"
— Instrument from the University of Bern flies to the Moon, University of Bern release, 9 Nov 2023"In this area, we work closely with local industry. We will put a LIMS system that has been ‘made in Switzerland’ on the Moon."
— Instrument from the University of Bern flies to the Moon"The instrument will utilize a Firefly-built robotic arm and Titanium shovel"
— NASA Selects Firefly for New Artemis Science, Tech Delivery to Moon - NASA
Moon Base need¶
"Characterize site-specific and depth-resolved mineralogical and elemental composition of"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-010 L: South polar lunar regolith elemental and mineral composition, Description"Apollo-era returned samples and lunar meteorites are the primary in-situ data set (predominantly mare terrain and equatorial)"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-010 L: South polar lunar regolith elemental and mineral composition, Current state of data"Data provided by LIMS will give us a better idea of the ages and origins of surface materials"
— CS-6 Science - NASA Science"To select, e.g., suitable building materials, the chemical makeup must be known"
— wurz.space.unibe.ch: SchmidtIEEE2025.pdf, page 2, Introduction"Phase 1 "Now through 2028", Phase 2 "2029–2033""
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: Moon Base phases, Ignition deck 2"| Dates (web) | Now–2029 | 2029–2032 | 2032–Beyond |"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: Moon Base phases
Open questions¶
- How NASA chose LIMS for CLPS, and under what agreement with Switzerland or ESA: not in public sources.
- What LIMS costs (PRODEX and Swiss funding): not in public sources.
- Was the sample handling ever tested in reduced gravity in flight (parabolic or other)? The papers describe ground tests only, with cork grains standing in for lunar gravity.
- When the flight model is delivered to Firefly: not in public sources (the team spoke of 2026 in June 2023, when the flight was planned for 2027).