The Clementine Bistatic Radar Experiment
During the Clementine 1 mission, a bistatic radar experiment measured the magnitude and polarization of the radar echo versus bistatic angle, β, for selected lunar areas. Observations of the lunar south pole yield a same-sense polarization enhancement around β = 0. Analysis shows that the observed e...
Published in: | Science |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
1996
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5292.1495 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.274.5292.1495 |
Summary: | During the Clementine 1 mission, a bistatic radar experiment measured the magnitude and polarization of the radar echo versus bistatic angle, β, for selected lunar areas. Observations of the lunar south pole yield a same-sense polarization enhancement around β = 0. Analysis shows that the observed enhancement is localized to the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole. Radar observations of periodically solar-illuminated lunar surfaces, including the north pole, yielded no such enhancement. A probable explanation for these differences is the presence of low-loss volume scatterers, such as water ice, in the permanently shadowed region at the south pole. |
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