Shackleton Crater

5 hours · 2 applicants this week

NASA's Artemis Water Resources team needs Sector 7 of Shackleton's floor mapped for ice concentration. You'll navigate Shadow Crawler through total darkness using only LIDAR and infrared sensors — there's literally zero visible light. The thermal camera detects ice deposits as temperature anomalies. Mark each deposit with GPS coordinates and estimated volume. This is challenging because you're driving blind (no visible light cameras work), but the LIDAR display gives you a wire-frame view of the terrain.

6 hours · 1 applicant this week

The ESA Water Lab has identified a promising ice deposit at coordinates 89.87°S, 0.12°E. Navigate to the site, deploy the thermal drill, and extract a continuous 2-meter ice core. The drill operates slowly — about 10 cm per minute — and you need to monitor pressure and temperature readings to avoid shattering the core. Once extracted, photograph the core in infrared and seal it in the sample container.

6 hours · 5 applicants this week

Optimus Explorers can drill and extract ice cores from Shackleton's floor, but interpreting what's inside those cores requires human expertise in planetary science and cryogenics. You'll analyze high-resolution infrared scans of extracted cores, identify distinct stratigraphic layers, estimate ages using known impact event markers, and catalog volatile compounds trapped in each layer. This data directly informs NASA's water extraction strategy — knowing the ice composition at different depths determines where and how to mine. Robots extract, humans interpret. A geology or planetary science background is strongly preferred.

20 hours (2-week window) · 3 applicants this week

NASA is designing a water extraction plant for Shackleton's permanently shadowed floor, where temperatures reach -238°C. The robots will build it, but humans must design it. This role focuses on thermal management: how to heat ice to extract water without losing it to sublimation in vacuum, how to insulate pipes, and how to move liquid water through a system where everything wants to freeze solid. You'll work from Explorer survey data (floor topography, ice distribution maps, temperature profiles) to produce thermal system schematics. Mechanical or thermal engineering background required. This is real infrastructure design for a real facility.

10 hours (1-week window) · 7 applicants this week

JAXA's pressurized rover is the crown jewel of Phase 2 international cooperation — a vehicle that allows two astronauts to live and work for up to 14 days without returning to base. But someone needs to plan where it goes. Earth-based mission planners design multi-day routes that maximize scientific return while managing power budgets, crew rest schedules, communication windows, and terrain hazards. You'll use Explorer survey data and satellite imagery to plot waypoints, schedule EVA stops, and create contingency abort paths. The rover drives itself between waypoints, but the strategic decisions — where to go and why — require human judgment and scientific prioritization.

3 hours · 156 bookings this week

This is the most extreme sightseeing experience on the Moon. Your Explorer descends from the sunlit crater rim into total, permanent darkness. Watch the sunlight disappear behind you as the temperature plummets to -238°C. The LIDAR and infrared cameras paint an alien landscape of ancient ice and frozen rock that no human eye has ever seen directly. See water ice glinting in the infrared, frozen for billions of years. Peer into the coldest natural place in the solar system. The return ascent back into sunlight is unforgettable.

2 hours · 89 bookings this week

At -238°C, Shackleton's floor is colder than Pluto. Nothing decays here — ever. Upload up to 1GB of personal files (photos, videos, documents, voice recordings) to a radiation-hardened memory crystal sealed in a titanium cryo-capsule. Your Explorer buries it in the permanently shadowed regolith. At these temperatures, the data will remain intact for millions of years. Many customers store family photos, personal histories, and messages to the future. It's the ultimate backup — stored on another world in nature's deepest freezer.

1 hour · 78 bookings this week

The permanently shadowed floor of Shackleton Crater contains water ice that has been frozen solid for over 2 billion years. A section has been smoothed into a regulation-length curling sheet — the oldest ice rink in existence. Your Explorer slides polished granite stones across the ancient ice surface toward the target rings. In 1/6th gravity, the stones glide with almost no friction, sliding much farther and more precisely than on Earth. The LIDAR and infrared cameras let you see the sheet in wire-frame detail. Two robot teams alternate shots — you vs. the AI opponent. Strategy matters more than power here. The ultimate niche sport in the ultimate niche location.

45 minutes · 134 bookings this week

A hockey goal and a goalie robot are stationed on the ice floor of Shackleton Crater. Your Explorer fires hockey pucks across the ancient ice in the most extreme hockey environment imaginable: -238°C, total darkness, zero friction. The puck never stops unless it hits something — there's no air drag and the ice is frictionless at these temperatures. You get 20 shots from various distances and angles, with the goalie robot attempting saves. The LIDAR view shows a ghostly wire-frame arena. Shots are tracked for speed (radar gun) and accuracy. The physics are completely alien — pucks don't slow down or curve — pure geometry and timing.