Craig Hardgrove
I'm a planetary scientist at Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration. I study the Moon and Mars using neutron and gamma ray instruments; I was the principal investigator of NASA's LunaH-Map mission, a small spacecraft that flew to the Moon on Artemis I, and I'm now helping build a neutron and gamma-ray instrument for NASA's Lunar-VISE lunar rover, launching in late 2028.
I've also spent a long time making things about video games: remaking the soundtrack of Bungie's Marathon, writing audio dramas set in the Destiny universe, and working with Bungie on the real science behind their worlds. This page collects all of it in one place.
Science
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neutrons.space My research group: missions, instruments, and student projects. - ASU faculty profile Publications, courses, and the official university version of me.
- Google Scholar Publications and citations.
Writing & talks
- Why NASA should apply the CLPS mindset to low-cost science missions, not just landers Op-ed in SpaceNews, 2025.
- How the LunaH-Map mission will map ice at the Moon's south pole BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
- ▶︎ Hunting for hydrogen, a moonshot An ASU KEDtalk video about LunaH-Map, 2018. Watch on YouTube.
- ▶︎ Artemis I: Going Back to the Moon I appear in this documentary about the Artemis I launch, 2022; streaming on Max, Hulu, and Prime Video.
- What is NASA for? Essay for The Planetary Society, 2014.
Games
- Science consultant to Bungie on Destiny Advised on planetary science for the game's worlds; in the Special Thanks credits of Destiny (2014). Bungie wrote about the collaboration in a 2014 update.
- LunaH-Map in Destiny 2 My real spacecraft is hidden on the Moon in Shadowkeep (2019); players who find it earn the Orbital Cartographer emblem, based on the mission patch.
- Ride Along: Mars Toured the game's Mars with Bungie world artist Jason Sussman, talking about the real geology behind the environments. On Bungie's channel, 2015.
- Guardian Radio Co-host and resident scientist on the early-days Destiny community podcast (2013–2018); the earliest episodes are re-released on Apple Podcasts.
- An interview with Alex Seropian My conversation with the co-founder of Bungie, hosted on the Marathon music site.
- Astrum Terra A video game science consulting venture (2011–2013); its blog on science in games is still readable.
Music
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The Marathon Music Remade Full remakes of the soundtrack to Bungie's 1994 game Marathon, completed in 2011; streamable and free to download. - Songs Older music: guitar songs, electronic pieces, covers, and sketches.
Audio drama & readings
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Ghosts and Echoes An audio drama I wrote and produced (2013–2016), set in the world of Destiny. Also on YouTube and Apple Podcasts. - Grimoire card readings Audio versions of Destiny's grimoire cards (2013–2016), including "The Last Word" and Thorn series.
Older projects
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eigenhat, an archive My first website (2003): a webcomic about a penguin with a top hat, a short story, and other early experiments.
A colleague once explained to me why it's harder to remember things as we age. Your brain is like an iceberg with a bunch of penguins on it, and each penguin is something you're supposed to remember. When you're young the iceberg keeps getting bigger, so there's room for every penguin that shows up. At some point it stops growing, but the penguins keep coming, and eventually you can't fit any more on. Then the iceberg starts shrinking. Penguins are still climbing on and penguins are falling off, but mostly they're falling off.