Numerical modeling of the formation of Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole

Halim, Samuel; Barrett, Natasha; Boazman, Sarah; Gawronska, A. J.; Gilmour, Cosette; Harish,; McCanaan, K.; Satyakumar, Animireddi V.; Shah, J.; Kring, D. A.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113992

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Sites 007 and 011 are among a range of massifs that are generally understood to be blocks of lunar crust that were uplifted by the SPA impact event (Spudis et al 2008). In the upper walls of the Shackleton crater, which lies between sites 007 and 011, anorthosite signatures (Ohtake et al 2009;Yamamoto et al 2012), consistent with the expected crustal composition based on the lunar magma ocean model (Wood et al 1970), were detected and later correlated with rock exposures (Kring et al 2020c(Kring et al , 2020dGawronska et al 2020;Halim et al 2021).…”

Section: Geological Contextmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Excavation depths of 30 craters were calculated to determine whether they only sampled debris from the topmost ejecta layer or if they also excavated material from deeper ejecta layers. For those craters that penetrated the Shackleton ejecta blanket, we compared crater depths with modeled ejecta thicknesses from Halim et al (2021) and Gawronska et al (2020). The depths of craters around Site 007 vary from ∼80 m to ∼5 m and their diameters vary from ∼621 m to ∼39 m, with depth/diameter values of ∼0.1 to ∼0.3.…”

Section: Ejecta Patterns At the Two Landing Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ejecta may also contain impact melt from SPA and other pre-Nectarian-and Nectarian-age impacts, cryptomare from the SPA, and fragments of the original highland crust, with components from the lunar magma ocean and later intrusive rocks. As noted in Section 2, the Shackleton crater excavated anorthosite from the ancient lunar crust, plus a sequence of older impact ejecta horizons (Gawronska et al 2020;Halim et al 2021). de Gerlache and Cabeus ejecta may contain plagioclase and a mixture of low-calcium pyroxene and olivine (Blalock et al 2020;Lemelin et al 2021).…”

Section: High-priority Locations For Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface Conditions and Resource Accessibility at Potential Artemis Landing Sites 007 and 011

et al. 2022

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International efforts are underway to explore the Moon’s south polar region with robotic and human missions. These missions will address key scientific and exploration objectives in a region rich with possibilities, designed to develop a sustained lunar presence. To assist a trade study among six potential landing sites identified for Artemis astronauts, we examined two of those sites: 007 and 011. We find that (1) many craters in the vicinity of Site 007 excavated and expose ejecta from Shackleton and Slater; additionally, numerous craters around Site 011 expose Cabeus and de Gerlache ejecta; (2) dense boulder fields occur near a large permanently shadowed region (PSR) at Site 007 and near the point of highest surface illumination in Site 011, which may affect landing and surface exploration activities; (3) despite some surface roughness, both sites 007 and 011 are traversable and contain exploration targets suitable for in situ resource utilization; (4) sites 007 and 011 receive higher average illumination than previously reported for sites 001 and 004; and (5) PSRs, seasonally shadowed regions, and cold traps at both sites offer opportunities to sample volatiles.

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Section: Geological Contextmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Ejecta Patterns At the Two Landing Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: High-priority Locations For Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface Conditions and Resource Accessibility at Potential Artemis Landing Sites 007 and 011

et al. 2022

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“…There remains, however, a level of uncertainty in geologic conditions in the area. Asymmetries in the morphology of Shackleton crater may have been produced by subsurface ice in the target (Halim et al 2021). If icy regolith persists in the region, then it may affect conditions along the "Connecting Ridge" and Shackleton crater and, therefore, the distribution of rocky craters (Colaprete et al 2012;Cannon & Britt 2020a).…”

Section: Relationship Of Isolated Boulders Rock Exposures Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lunar south pole is located on the rim of Shackleton crater, a 21 km diameter simple crater created by an asteroid approximately 1.5 km in diameter (Zuber et al 2012;Halim et al 2021). Shackleton crater is of Imbrian age ( -+ 3.43 0.05 0.04 Ga, Spudis et al 2008;Kring et al 2021), and was excavated from a preexisiting irregular massif, exposing blocks that may contain purest anorthosite on one side of the crater (PAN; Yamamoto et al 2012;Gawronska et al 2020), and a layered outcrop on the other side of the crater (Gawronska et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Distribution and Accessibility of Geologic Targets near the Lunar South Pole and Candidate Artemis Landing Sites

et al. 2022

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Transformative lunar science will be driven by the accessibility, recovery, and return to Earth of geological specimens. Isolated boulders, rock exposures, and rocky craters at the lunar south pole all provide opportunities for geologic characterization and sampling of the lunar crust. Here, we present the results of orbital geological mapping of the region surrounding the south pole using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Narrow Angle Camera images (0.5–2 m pixel−1). We mapped the distribution of isolated boulders (86,896), rocky craters (3556), and rock exposures (7553) around potential Artemis landing sites 001 and 004 (NASA 2020), which are within or near one of the Artemis III candidate landing regions. We found that boulder abundance decreases with increasing distance from the rim of Shackleton crater. From that correlation, we infer that most of the boulders and rock exposures near Shackleton were deposited as ejecta by the Shackleton impact, and by later the reworking of that material during smaller impact events. We additionally assessed the accessibility of the mapped features, and documented geologic targets located on shallow (<15°) slopes, including those on the Shackleton crater rim and on the “Connecting Ridge” between Shackleton and Henson crater. Such targets could be sampled by a future mission to the lunar south pole region. Our catalog of mapped features is made available to the lunar community.

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Numerical simulation of impact crater formation and distribution of high-pressure polymorphs

Chen

et al. 2023

Acta Astronautica

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Numerical modeling of the formation of Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole

Cited by 10 publications

References 65 publications

Surface Conditions and Resource Accessibility at Potential Artemis Landing Sites 007 and 011

Surface Conditions and Resource Accessibility at Potential Artemis Landing Sites 007 and 011

The Distribution and Accessibility of Geologic Targets near the Lunar South Pole and Candidate Artemis Landing Sites

Numerical simulation of impact crater formation and distribution of high-pressure polymorphs

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