Constraints on the volatile distribution within Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole

Zuber, M. T.; Head, J. W.; Smith, David E.; Neumann, Gregory A.; Mazarico, E.; Torrence, M. H.; Aharonson, O.; Tye, A. R.; Fassett, C. I.; Rosenburg, M. A.; Melosh, H. J.

doi:10.1038/nature11216

Cited by 171 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Spectra obtained in the ultraviolet from the LRO Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project instrument document the presence of water ice frost on the lunar surface in the permanently shadowed crater Haworth, just north of Shackleton [Gladstone et al, 2012]. Additionally, recent studies of the interior of Shackleton suggest that the patchy, high CPR on the walls of this crater [Thomson et al, 2012b] has characteristics consistent with a small amount of water ice mixed with regolith, in partial agreement with and extending the results of previous work [Nozette et al, 2001;Zuber et al, 2012].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

et al. 2013

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[1] The Mini-RF radar instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft mapped both lunar poles in two different RF wavelengths (complete mapping at 12.6 cm S-band and partial mapping at 4.2 cm X-band) in two look directions, removing much of the ambiguity of previous Earth-and spacecraft-based radar mapping of the Moon's polar regions. The poles are typical highland terrain, showing expected values of radar cross section (albedo) and circular polarization ratio (CPR). Most fresh craters display high values of CPR in and outside the crater rim; the pattern of these CPR distributions is consistent with high levels of wavelength-scale surface roughness associated with the presence of block fields, impact melt flows, and fallback breccia. A different class of polar crater exhibits high CPR only in their interiors, interiors that are both permanently dark and very cold (less than 100 K). Application of scattering models developed previously suggests that these anomalously high-CPR deposits exhibit behavior consistent with the presence of water ice. If this interpretation is correct, then both poles may contain several hundred million tons of water in the form of relatively "clean" ice, all within the upper couple of meters of the lunar surface. The existence of significant water ice deposits enables both long-term human habitation of the Moon and the creation of a permanent cislunar space transportation system based upon the harvest and use of lunar propellant.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

et al. 2013

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“…The south pole of the Moon, in general, was a target of the Mini-RF bistatic campaign because of various lines of evidence consistent with the presence of H, OH, water or water ice in the near surface [Feldman et al, 1998;Feldman et al, 2001;Colaprete et al, 2010;Mitrofanov et al, 2010;Gladstone et al, 2012;Spudis et al, 2010;Thomson et al, 2012;Zuber et al, 2012;Lucey et al, 2014;Eke et al, 2015]. Much of the research into water ice at the poles has focused on permanently shadowed regions (PSRs).…”

Section: Cabeus Cratermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent measurements using neutron spectroscopy [Feldman et al 1998[Feldman et al , 2001Lawrence et al, 2006;Elphic et al, 2007;Mitrofanov et al, 2010], nearinfrared reflectance spectroscopy [Pieters et al 2009], thermal infrared radiometry [Paige et al 2010], far UV imaging and spectroscopy Hayne et al, 2015], and LIDAR reflectance [Zuber et al 2012;Lucey et al 2014], and in situ measurements [Colaprete et al, 2010] all point to the presence of water on the Moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) impact into a permanently shadowed portion of Cabeus crater has provided the most direct evidence for the presence of water in the form of ice [Colaprete et al, 2010].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bistatic radar observations of the Moon using Mini-RF on LRO and the Arecibo Observatory

Patterson

Stickle

Turner

et al. 2017

Icarus

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“…Far ultra-violet (FUV) observations of the Moon's polar Lyman-a albedo by LRO's LAMP instrument suggested $1-2% water frost on the regolith of several south polar PSR's (Gladstone et al, 2012). Results from LRO's Lunar Observing Laser Altimeter albedo (LOLA) were used to suggest deposits of surface water frost on the walls of Shackleton crater using 1064 nm albedo measurements (Smith et al, 2010;Zuber et al, 2012). Lucey et al (2014) found LOLA albedo differences that are consistent with an interpretation of water frost deposition in PSR vs. non-PSR and on pole-facing slopes (PFS) vs. equator-facing slopes (EFS).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the sequestration of hydrogen-bearing volatiles towards the Moon’s southern pole-facing slopes

McClanahan

Митрофанов

Boynton

et al. 2015

Icarus

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a b s t r a c tThe Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) detects a widespread suppression of the epithermal neutron leakage flux that is coincident with the pole-facing slopes (PFS) of the Moon's southern hemisphere. Suppression of the epithermal neutron flux is consistent with an interpretation of enhanced concentrations of hydrogen-bearing volatiles within the upper meter of the regolith. Localized flux suppression in PFS suggests that the reduced solar irradiation and lowered temperature on PFS constrains volatility to a greater extent than in surrounding regions. Epithermal neutron flux mapped with LEND's Collimated Sensor for Epithermal Neutrons (CSETN) was analyzed as a function of slope geomorphology derived from the Lunar Orbiting Laser Altimeter (LOLA) and the results compared to co-registered maps of diurnally averaged temperature from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment and an averaged illumination map derived from LOLA. The suppression in the average south polar epithermal neutron flux on equator-facing slopes (EFS) and PFS (85-90°S) is 3.3 ± 0.04% and 4.3 ± 0.05% respectively (one-sigma-uncertainties), relative to the average count-rate in the latitude band 45-90°S. The discrepancy of 1.0 ± 0.06% between EFS and PFS neutron flux corresponds to an average of $23 parts-per-million-by-weight (ppmw) more hydrogen on PFS than on EFS. Results show that the detection of hydrogen concentrations on PFS is dependent on their spatial scale. Epithermal flux suppression on large scale PFS was found to be enhanced to 5.2 ± 0.13%, a discrepancy of $45 ppmw hydrogen relative to equivalent EFS. Enhanced poleward hydration of PFS begins between 50°S and 60°S latitude. Polar regolith temperature contrasts do not explain the suppression of epithermal neutrons on pole-facing slopes. The Supplemental on-line materials include supporting results derived from the uncollimated Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer and the LEND Sensor for Epithermal Neutrons. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

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Constraints on the volatile distribution within Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole

Cited by 171 publications

References 22 publications

Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

Evidence for water ice on the Moon: Results for anomalous polar craters from the LRO Mini‐RF imaging radar

Bistatic radar observations of the Moon using Mini-RF on LRO and the Arecibo Observatory

Evidence for the sequestration of hydrogen-bearing volatiles towards the Moon’s southern pole-facing slopes

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