Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole
Shackleton crater is nearly coincident with the Moon's south pole. Its interior receives almost no direct sunlight and is a perennial cold trap, making Shackleton a promising candidate location in which to seek sequestered volatiles. However, previous orbital and Earth-based radar mapping and o...
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ftnasantrs:oai:casi.ntrs.nasa.gov:20120013758 2023-05-15T18:22:03+02:00 Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole Torrence, Mark H. Head, James W. Aharonson, Oded Rosenburg, Margaret A. Neumann, Gregory A. Melosh, H. Jay Fassett, Caleb I. Tye, Alexander R. Mazarico, Erwan Zuber, Maria T. Smith, David E. Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available [2012] application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20120013758 unknown Document ID: 20120013758 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20120013758 Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright CASI Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration GSFC.JA.6467.2012 Nature; 486; 378-381 2012 ftnasantrs 2019-07-21T00:47:30Z Shackleton crater is nearly coincident with the Moon's south pole. Its interior receives almost no direct sunlight and is a perennial cold trap, making Shackleton a promising candidate location in which to seek sequestered volatiles. However, previous orbital and Earth-based radar mapping and orbital optical imaging have yielded conflicting interpretations about the existence of volatiles. Here we present observations from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, revealing Shackleton to be an ancient, unusually well-preserved simple crater whose interior walls are fresher than its floor and rim. Shackleton floor deposits are nearly the same age as the rim, suggesting that little floor deposition has occurred since the crater formed more than three billion years ago. At a wavelength of 1,064 nanometres, the floor of Shackleton is brighter than the surrounding terrain and the interiors of nearby craters, but not as bright as the interior walls. The combined observations are explicable primarily by downslope movement of regolith on the walls exposing fresher underlying material. The relatively brighter crater floor is most simply explained by decreased space weathering due to shadowing, but a one-micrometre-thick layer containing about 20 per cent surficial ice is an alternative possibility. Other/Unknown Material South pole NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Shackleton South Pole |
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Open Polar |
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NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
op_collection_id |
ftnasantrs |
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unknown |
topic |
Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration |
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Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration Torrence, Mark H. Head, James W. Aharonson, Oded Rosenburg, Margaret A. Neumann, Gregory A. Melosh, H. Jay Fassett, Caleb I. Tye, Alexander R. Mazarico, Erwan Zuber, Maria T. Smith, David E. Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole |
topic_facet |
Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration |
description |
Shackleton crater is nearly coincident with the Moon's south pole. Its interior receives almost no direct sunlight and is a perennial cold trap, making Shackleton a promising candidate location in which to seek sequestered volatiles. However, previous orbital and Earth-based radar mapping and orbital optical imaging have yielded conflicting interpretations about the existence of volatiles. Here we present observations from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, revealing Shackleton to be an ancient, unusually well-preserved simple crater whose interior walls are fresher than its floor and rim. Shackleton floor deposits are nearly the same age as the rim, suggesting that little floor deposition has occurred since the crater formed more than three billion years ago. At a wavelength of 1,064 nanometres, the floor of Shackleton is brighter than the surrounding terrain and the interiors of nearby craters, but not as bright as the interior walls. The combined observations are explicable primarily by downslope movement of regolith on the walls exposing fresher underlying material. The relatively brighter crater floor is most simply explained by decreased space weathering due to shadowing, but a one-micrometre-thick layer containing about 20 per cent surficial ice is an alternative possibility. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Torrence, Mark H. Head, James W. Aharonson, Oded Rosenburg, Margaret A. Neumann, Gregory A. Melosh, H. Jay Fassett, Caleb I. Tye, Alexander R. Mazarico, Erwan Zuber, Maria T. Smith, David E. |
author_facet |
Torrence, Mark H. Head, James W. Aharonson, Oded Rosenburg, Margaret A. Neumann, Gregory A. Melosh, H. Jay Fassett, Caleb I. Tye, Alexander R. Mazarico, Erwan Zuber, Maria T. Smith, David E. |
author_sort |
Torrence, Mark H. |
title |
Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole |
title_short |
Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole |
title_full |
Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole |
title_fullStr |
Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole |
title_full_unstemmed |
Constraints on the Volatile Distribution Within Shackleton Crater at the Lunar South Pole |
title_sort |
constraints on the volatile distribution within shackleton crater at the lunar south pole |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20120013758 |
op_coverage |
Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available |
geographic |
Shackleton South Pole |
geographic_facet |
Shackleton South Pole |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_source |
CASI |
op_relation |
Document ID: 20120013758 http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20120013758 |
op_rights |
Copyright, Distribution as joint owner in the copyright |
_version_ |
1766201406848499712 |