Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space

Center episode 248, Lunar Vertex. I'm Gary Jordan, and I'll be your host today.

On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, and astronauts, all

to let you know what's going on in the world of human spaceflight. Twisting and turning

across the moon's surface, as though painted on with a spray can, lunar swirls are beautiful

yet mysterious phenomena that humans have pondered for centuries.

Riner Gamma, the most famous of the lunar swirls, can be seen by the average astronomer

with a basic backyard telescope. Yet we still don't know what exactly are lunar swirls

and how do they form? Well, an upcoming lunar mission may help shed some light on this

very question.

Lunar Vertex is set to be the first investigation in NASA's payload and research investigations

on the surface of the moon or prism for short. Lunar Vertex is set to be delivered to

the moon aboard a robotic lander that was recently selected through NASA's commercial

lunar payload services program or clips. And we'll explore the mysterious swirl feature

of Riner Gamma to better understand this phenomena, and that's set to happen in just a few

short years. Today, we're joined by principal investigator for Lunar Vertex, who's at the

John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory or APL, Dr. David Bluent. He will be enlightening

us about lunar swirls, the associated magnetic anomalies, and how the Lunar Vertex mission

may help answer key questions that scientists have had for hundreds of years. With that,

let's get right into the podcast. Enjoy.

David Bluent, thank you so much for coming on Houston. We have a podcast today.

Oh, thanks, Gary. I really appreciate the invitation.

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