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Distribution of water phase near the poles of the Moon from gravity aspects. Sci Rep 2022; 12:4501. [PMID: 35296705 PMCID: PMC8927600 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-08305-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Our Moon periodically moves through the magnetic tail of the Earth that contains terrestrial ions of hydrogen and oxygen. A possible density contrast might have been discovered that could be consistent with the presence of water phase of potential terrestrial origin. Using novel gravity aspects (descriptors) derived from harmonic potential coefficients of gravity field of the Moon, we discovered gravity strike angle anomalies that point to water phase locations in the polar regions of the Moon. Our analysis suggests that impact cratering processes were responsible for specific pore space network that were subsequently filled with the water phase filling volumes of permafrost in the lunar subsurface. In this work, we suggest the accumulation of up to ~ 3000 km3 of terrestrial water phase (Earth’s atmospheric escape) now filling the pore spaced regolith, portion of which is distributed along impact zones of the polar regions of the Moon. These unique locations serve as potential resource utilization sites for future landing exploration and habitats (e.g., NASA Artemis Plan objectives).
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Design and Characterization of the Multi-Band SWIR Receiver for the Lunar Flashlight CubeSat Mission. REMOTE SENSING 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/rs11040440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Lunar Flashlight (LF) is an innovative National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) CubeSat mission that is dedicated to quantifying and mapping the water ice that is harbored in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar South Pole. The primary goal is to understand the lunar resource potential for future human exploration of the Moon. To this end, the LF spacecraft will carry an active multi-band reflectometer, based on an optical receiver aligned with four high-power diode lasers emitting in the 1 to 2-μm shortwave infrared band, to measure the reflectance of the lunar surface from orbit near water ice absorption peaks. We present the detailed optical, mechanical, and thermal design of the receiver, which is required to fabricate this instrument within very demanding CubeSat resource allocations. The receiver has been optimized for solar stray light rejection from outside its field of view, and utilizes a 70 × 70-mm, aluminum, off-axis paraboloidal mirror with a focal length of 70 mm, which collects the reflected light from the Moon surface onto a single-pixel InGaAs detector with a 2-mm diameter, hence providing a 20-mrad field of view. The characterization of the flight receiver is also presented, and the results are in agreement with the expected performance obtained from simulations. Planned to be launched by NASA on the first Space Launch System (SLS) test flight, this highly mass-constrained and volume-constrained instrument payload will demonstrate several firsts, including being one of the first instruments onboard a CubeSat performing science measurements beyond low Earth orbit, and the first planetary mission to use multi-band active reflectometry from orbit.
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Fisher EA, Lucey PG, Lemelin M, Greenhagen BT, Siegler MA, Mazarico E, Aharonson O, Williams JP, Hayne PO, Neumann GA, Paige DA, Smith DE, Zuber MT. Evidence for surface water ice in the lunar polar regions using reflectance measurements from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and temperature measurements from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment. ICARUS 2017; Volume 292:74-85. [PMID: 32367891 PMCID: PMC7197374 DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2017.03.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
We find that the reflectance of the lunar surface within 5 ° of latitude of the South Pole increases rapidly with decreasing temperature, near ~110K, behavior consistent with the presence of surface water iceThe North polar region does not show this behavior, nor do South polar surfaces at latitudes more than 5° from the pole. This South pole reflectance anomaly persists when analysis is limited to surfaces with slopes less than 10° to eliminate false detection due to the brightening effect of mass wasting, and also when the very bright south polar crater Shackleton is excluded from the analysis. We also find that south polar regions of permanent shadow that have been reported to be generally brighter at 1064 nm do not show anomalous reflectance when their annual maximum surface temperatures are too high to preserve water ice. This distinction is not observed at the North Pole. The reflectance excursion on surfaces with maximum temperatures below 110K is superimposed on a general trend of increasing reflectance with decreasing maximum temperature that is present throughout the polar regions in the north and south; we attribute this trend to a temperature or illumination-dependent space weathering effect (e.g. Hemingway et al. 2015). We also find a sudden increase in reflectance with decreasing temperature superimposed on the general trend at 200K and possibly at 300K. This may indicate the presence of other volatiles such as sulfur or organics. We identified and mapped surfaces with reflectances so high as to be unlikely to be part of an ice-free population. In this south we find a similar distribution found by Hayne et al. 2015 based on UV properties. In the north a cluster of pixels near that pole may represent a limited frost exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A Fisher
- Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology University of Hawaii at Manoa 1680 East West Road Honolulu HI 96822 [Now at Brown University, Dept. of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences, 324 Brook St., Providence, RI 02912]
| | - Paul G Lucey
- Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology University of Hawaii at Manoa 1680 East West Road Honolulu HI 96822
| | - Myriam Lemelin
- Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering York University Toronto, Canada
| | - Benjamin T Greenhagen
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11101 Johns Hopkins Rd. Laurel, 20723 MD, USA
| | - Matthew A Siegler
- Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA and Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA
| | | | - Oded Aharonson
- Weizmann Institute of Science, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rehovot 76100, Israel
| | - Jean-Pierre Williams
- Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - Paul O Hayne
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
| | | | - David A Paige
- Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
| | - David E Smith
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Maria T Zuber
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
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Boynton WV, Droege GF, Mitrofanov IG, McClanahan TP, Sanin AB, Litvak ML, Schaffner M, Chin G, Evans LG, Garvin JB, Harshman K, Malakhov A, Milikh G, Sagdeev R, Starr R. High spatial resolution studies of epithermal neutron emission from the lunar poles: Constraints on hydrogen mobility. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1029/2011je003979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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