Executive Summary

• Main Authors: Matthew C. Deans, Alex D. Foessel, Gregory A. Fries, Diana Labelle, N. Keith, Lay Stewart Moorehead, Ben Shamah, Kimberly J. Shillcutt, Professor Dr. William Whittaker, Icebreaker A Lunar, South Pole, Exploring Robot
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.67.2064; http://www.ri.cmu.edu/pub_files/pub1/deans_matthew_1997_1/deans_matthew_1997_1.pdf

Due to the low angles of sunlight at the lunar poles, craters and other depressions in the polar regions can contain areas which are in permanent darkness and are at cryogenic temperatures. Many scientists have theorized that these cold traps could contain large quantities of frozen volatiles such as water and carbon dioxide which have been deposited over billions of years by comets, meteors and solar wind. Recent bistatic radar data from the Clementine mission has yielded results consistent with water ice at the South Pole of the Moon however Earth based observations from the Arecibo Radar Observatory indicate that ice may not exist. Due to the controversy surrounding orbital and Earth based observations, the only way to definitively answer the question of whether ice exists on the Lunar South Pole is in situ analysis. The discovery of water ice and other volatiles on the Moon has many important benefits. First, this would provide a source of rocket fuel which could be used to power rockets to Earth, Mars or beyond, avoiding the high cost of Earth based launches. Secondly, water and carbon dioxide along with nitrogen from ammonia form the essential elements for life and could be used to help support human colonies on the Moon. Thirdly, since these volatiles have been accumulating for billions of years they can provide valuable information about the history of the Moon and cometary impacts. The discovery of volatiles on the Moon would radically change our outlook on the solar system and our ability to explore it.