Future exploration efforts of the Moon, Mars and other bodies are poised to focus heavily on persistent and sustainable survey and research efforts. This is especially true for the Moon, as additional orbital and surface efforts have been made by a number of countries for the first time and given the recent interest in a long-term sustainable human presence at the Moon. Key to these efforts is understanding a number of important processes on the lunar surface for both scientific and operational purposes. We discuss the potential value of a powerful tool complementary to currently used reconnaissance techniques: in-situ artificial substrate witness plates. These tools can supplement familiar remote sensing and sample acquisition techniques and provide a sustainable way of monitoring processes in key locations on planetary surfaces while also maintaining a low environmental footprint. We examine and discuss unique case studies to show how key processes such as water transport/hydration, presence and contamination of biologically relevant molecules, solar activity related effects, and other processes can be measured using small artificial substrate witness plates we call ‘biscuits’. These biscuits can yield key location sensitive, time integrated measurements on these processes that can inform scientific understanding of the Moon as well as enable operational goals in lunar exploration. While we specifically demonstrate this on a simulated traverse and for selected examples, we stress that all groups interested in planetary surfaces in the future should consider these adaptable, low footprint and highly informative tools for future exploration.