Prospect is a suite of instruments that will drill up to at least one metre depth beneath the lunar surface, extract samples, and process them in a mini lab. The combination of robotic drill and sample analysis package is designed to identify volatiles trapped beneath the surface at extremely cold temperatures down to –150 °C.
ESA's Prospect package, including drill and a miniaturised laboratory, will fly to the Moon’s South Polar region in search of water ice as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.Prospect stands for Package for Resource Observation and In-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Characterisation and Testing.