The Lunar Geophysical Network Landing Sites Science Rationale

Haviland, H. Fuqua; Weber, R. C.; Neal, C. R.; Lognonné, Philippe; Garcia, Raphaël; Schmerr, N. C.; Nagihara, S.; Grimm, R. E.; Currie, D. G.; Dell’Agnello, S.; Watters, T. R.; Panning, M. P.; Johnson, C. L.; Yamada, Ryuhei; Knapmeyer, Martin; Ostrach, L. R.; Kawamura, Taïchi; Petro, N. E.; Bremner, P. M.

doi:10.3847/psj/ac0f82

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 141 publications

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“…Furthermore, our results highlight and strengthen the case for a still tectonically active Moon within and outside of the Maria basins. To further uncover the active lunar tectonism, the future installation of a geophysical network on the Moon is highly desirable (Fuqua Haviland et al., 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing and Origin of Compressional Tectonism in Mare Tranquillitatis

et al. 2023

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The Moon's surface hosts a variety of extensional and compressional tectonic features, which recorded the history of the acting regional and global stress systems. Compressional tectonism was initiated with the emplacement of the mare basalts and the shift of net global extension to net global contract at ∼3.6 Ga, which led to the formation of the two major compressional tectonic landforms: lobate scarps and wrinkle ridges (

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing and Origin of Compressional Tectonism in Mare Tranquillitatis

et al. 2023

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“…A better site for this science objective would be the far side Korolev crater residing by the equator, about 23° from the antipodes (by which we understand the center of the farside). It is now considered as one of the possible landing sites for the Lunar Geophysical Network (LGN) mission proposed to arrive on the Moon in 2030 and to deploy packages at four locations to enable geophysical measurements for 6–10 years (Fuqua Haviland et al., 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is There a Semi‐Molten Layer at the Base of the Lunar Mantle?

2023

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Fitting of the lunar laser ranging (LLR) data to the quality-factor power scaling law Q ∼ χ p rendered a small negative value of the exponential: p = −0.19 (Williams et al., 2001). Further attempts by the JPL team to reprocess the data led to p = −0.07. According to Williams and Boggs (2009), "Q for rock is expected to have a weak dependence on tidal period, but it is expected to decrease with period rather than increase."The most recent estimates of the tidal contribution to the lunar physical librations (Williams & Boggs, 2015) still predict a mild increase of Q with period: from Q = 38 ± 4 at one month to Q = 41 ± 9 at one year, yielding p = −0.03 ± 0.09. Efroimsky (2012aEfroimsky ( , 2012b suggested that since the frequency-dependence of k 2 /Q always has a kink shape, like in Figure 1, the negative slope found by the LLR measurements could be consistent with the peak of the kink residing between the monthly and annual frequencies. This interpretation entails, for a homogeneous Maxwell or Andrade lunar model, very low values of the mean viscosity, indicating the presence of partial melt.Our goal now is to devise an interpretation based on the Sundberg-Cooper model. Within that model, the kink contains not one but two peaks, and we are considering the possibility that the negative slope of our interest is due to the monthly and annual frequencies bracketing either this peak or the local inter-peak minimum.

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“…Oberst (1987) suggested that lunar scattering and internal attenuation are factors that bias the spectral shape of corner frequency estimates, an effect that could potentially explain the discrepancy between fault scarpbased estimates here and waveform propagation estimates of stress drop. Future recordings by new seismometers deployed on the Moon by the Farside Seismic Suite (Panning et al 2022), Artemis astronauts, or a Lunar Geophysical Network (Haviland et al 2021) will be essential for understanding the faulting mechanism in more detail.…”

Section: Seismicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonics and Seismicity of the Lunar South Polar Region

Watters,

Schmerr,

Weber

et al. 2024

Planet. Sci. J.

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The lunar south pole regions are subjected to global stresses that result in contractional deformation and associated seismicity. This deformation is mainly expressed by lobate thrust fault scarps; examples are globally distributed, including polar regions. One small cluster of lobate scarps falls within the de Gerlache Rim 2 Artemis III candidate landing region. The formation of the largest de Gerlache scarp, less than 60 km from the pole, may have been the source of one of the strongest shallow moonquakes recorded by the Apollo Passive Seismic Network. The scarp is within a probabilistic space of relocated epicenters for this event determined in a previous study. Modeling suggests that a shallow moonquake with an M w of ∼5.3 may have formed the lobate thrust fault scarp. We modeled the peak ground acceleration generated by such an event and found that strong to moderate ground shaking is predicted at a distance from the source of at least ∼40 km, while moderate to light shaking may extend beyond ∼50 km. Models of the slope stability in the south polar region predict that most of the steep slopes in Shackleton crater are susceptible to regolith landslides. Light seismic shaking may be all that is necessary to trigger regolith landslides, particularly if the regolith has low cohesion (on the order of ∼0.1 kPa). The potential of strong seismic events from active thrust faults should be considered when preparing and locating permanent outposts and pose a possible hazard to future robotic and human exploration of the south polar region.

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The Lunar Geophysical Network Landing Sites Science Rationale

Cited by 11 publications

References 141 publications

Timing and Origin of Compressional Tectonism in Mare Tranquillitatis

Timing and Origin of Compressional Tectonism in Mare Tranquillitatis

Is There a Semi‐Molten Layer at the Base of the Lunar Mantle?

Tectonics and Seismicity of the Lunar South Polar Region

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