Basin and Crater Ejecta Contributions to the South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA) Regolith; Positive Implications for Robotic Surface Samples

• Main Authors: Petro, Noah E., Jolliff, B. L.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration; South Pole; Aitken; Bellinsgauzen; South pole
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20120011796

The ability of impacts of all sizes to laterally transport ejected material across the lunar surface is well-documented both in lunar samples [1-4] and in remote sensing data [5-7]. The need to quantify the amount of lateral transport has lead to several models to estimate the scale of this effect. Such models have been used to assess the origin of components at the Apollo sites [8-10] or to predict what might be sampled by robotic landers [11-13]. Here we continue to examine the regolith inside the South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA) and specifically assess the contribution to the SPA regolith by smaller craters within the basin. Specifically we asses the effects of four larger craters within SPA, Bose, Bhabha, Stoney, and Bellinsgauzen all located within the mafic enhancement in the center of SPA (Figure 1). The region around these craters is of interest as it is a possible landing and sample return site for the proposed Moon-Rise mission [14-17]. Additionally, understanding the provenance of components in the SPA regolith is important for interpreting remotely sensed data of the basin interior [18-20].