The New Moon: Major Advances in Lunar Science Enabled by Compositional Remote Sensing from Recent Missions

Abstract

Volatile-bearing lunar surface and interior, giant magmatic-intrusion-laden near and far side, globally distributed layer of purest anorthosite (PAN) and discovery of Mg-Spinel anorthosite, a new rock type, represent just a sample of the brand new perspectives gained in lunar science in the last decade. An armada of missions sent by multiple nations and sophisticated analyses of the precious lunar samples have led to rapid evolution in the understanding of the Moon, leading to major new findings, including evidence for water in the lunar interior. Fundamental insights have been obtained about impact cratering, the crystallization of the lunar magma ocean and conditions during the origin of the Moon. The implications of this understanding go beyond the Moon and are therefore of key importance in solar system science. These new views of the Moon have challenged the previous understanding in multiple ways and are setting a new paradigm for lunar exploration in the coming decade both for science and resource exploration. Missions from India, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and several private ventures promise continued exploration of the Moon in the coming years, which will further enrich the understanding of our closest neighbor. The Moon remains a key scientific destination, an active testbed for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) activities, an outpost to study the universe and a future spaceport for supporting planetary missions.

Evidence of water on the lunar surface from Chang’E-5 in-situ spectra and returned samples

“…Determining the spatial distribution and temporal characteristics of water and its sources is key to understanding lunar magma ocean evolution, mantle volatile content, bombardment history, and the interactions between the solar wind and the lunar surface. Detection of water on the Moon is considered to be one of the most important discoveries in planetary science and a crucial milestone for lunar scientific research 1 . Lunar water is not only an important key to the formation and evolution of the Moon itself, but also provides significant information about the evolution of the solar system 2 .…”

Congresso SIMP-SGI-SOGEI 2019 - Il tempo del pianeta Terra e il tempo dell'uomo: Le geoscienze fra passato e futuro

“…Studies, e.g. (Ohtake et al, 2014, Moriarty andPieters, 2018), reveal that the South-Pole Aitken (SPA) basin is unique, particularly because it is the deepest basin on the Moon and might be expected to expose the lunar mantle (Dhingra et al, 2018). The innermost part of SPA is rich in high Ca-pyroxenes, except for some central crater peaks, where low Ca-pyroxenes dominate.…”

“…The innermost part of SPA is rich in high Ca-pyroxenes, except for some central crater peaks, where low Ca-pyroxenes dominate. No extensive olivine-rich areas are observed, implying a mantle rich in low Ca-pyroxenes instead of olivine (Ohtake et al, 2014, Dhingra et al, 2018, Melosh et al, 2018. Furthermore, thorium anomalies have been discovered in two craters within Aitken basin (Lawrence et al, 2000).…”

Raman study of shock effects in lunar anorthite from the Apollo missions

“…2009; Donaldson Hanna et al. 2014; Dhingra 2018). Data from the Multiband Imager on the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) on the composition of the lunar crust on a global scale revealed extensive pure anorthosite rock with over 95 vol% of plagioclase exposed by large impact events (Kato et al.…”