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LRO-2500-Saha_E_Crater.jpgThe Floor of Crater "Saha E"55 visiteThe lava-like melt produced by impacts on the Moon can have a variety of morphologies.
The polygonal texture you see here is located on the Floor of Crater Saha E, an approx. 28-Km-diameter Impact Crater located East of Mare Smythii.
This texture could be the result of impact melt coating boulders and other deposits on the Floor of the Crater. From the perspective of exploration planning, impact melt deposits are scientifically interesting because they can be used to age-date impacts. Impact melts can also contain geochemical traces of the original impact, and often contain small fragments of the original pre-impact target rocks. LROC will be providing high-resolution images of many other fresh, relatively undegraded craters to document the complex aftermath of impact events as well as to define targets for future human lunar exploration.MareKromium
(3 voti)
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LRO-2501-Oceanus_Procellarum~0.jpgLunar Landslide in an Unnamed Crater of Oceanus Procellarum (Natural Colors; credits: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)63 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(3 voti)
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LRO-2503-Mare_Moscoviense.jpgMare - Highlands Boundary in Mare Moscoviense71 visiteMare Moscoviense: a "Window" to the Lunar Far-Side Volcanism
It's clear from looking at pictures of the Moon that the Near-Side and the Far-Side are very different from a geologic standpoint.
The darker, basaltic mare deposits dominate the Near-Side, whereas the Far-Side is dominated by bright deposits of anorthosite thought to be remnants of the Moon's original crust. Mare Moscoviense is one of the few (and also the largest) deposits of mare basalts on the Lunar Far-Side.
Why are there so many mare basalts on the Near-Side, but so few on the Far-Side? Lunar scientists simply don't know the answer to that question. One idea is that the Far-Side crust is simply thicker than the near side crust, and rising basaltic magma simply solidified before it was able to push through the thicker Far-Side crust. That's where Moscoviense comes in. We know enough about the Moscoviense Region from previous missions that we have a well-defined set of questions that potential future missions might be able to answer. For example, the Lunar Prospector mission showed that there are high concentrations of thorium in the Moscoviense Basin. Thorium acts as a tracer for the Lunar KREEP (Potassium - K -, Rare Earth Elements and Phosphorus) geochemical component found in abundance on the Near-Side but not on the Far-Side.
Understanding the extent and distribution of thorium in the basin may tell us about the global distribution of the Lunar KREEP component and thus the evolution of the Lunar Mantle. We also know from the Clementine mission that the Moscoviense basalts are rich in both Iron and Titanium. Since basalts form by partial melting of the Lunar Mantle, sampling Moscoviense basalts provides lunar scientists with vital insights into how the Lunar Mantle on the Far-Side differs from the Near-Side one, which in turn would help us to learn why mare basalts are so much rarer on the Far-Side and provide key insights about the formation of all of the terrestrial planets, including Mars and Earth.
For these reasons, a Constellation Program region of interest is located within Mare Moscoviense. The region is at the edge of Moscoviense, allowing explorers to collect samples from both the mare basalts and the surrounding highlands terrain during their traverses.
The materials at the edge of the basin provide important insights into the formation of the Moscoviense Basin itself. By exploring and sampling the Moscoviense Region, we would date the basalt flows and definitively determine their composition. This sampling would let us determine how Moscoviense basalts differ from the near side basalts sampled during Apollo. Age-dating Moscoviense basalts also provides important insights into the history of lunar volcanism by determining whether the Moscoviense basalts are older or younger than Near-Side basalts.
While the scientific goals of exploring the Moscoviense Region are certainly important, no less important is access to key lunar resources. The lunar regolith (the broken-up rocks and impact products that make up the first 10 meters or so of the Lunar Surface) in this region is derived in part from the local titanium-rich Moscoviense basalts. This regolith material could be used for a variety of vital purposes, including the construction of human habitats, radiation shielding, or as feedstock for local resource utilization.
Taking a longer view, Titanium is an important industrial material on Earth, and it will be very important for indigenous lunar industrial development.MareKromium
(3 voti)
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LRO-1010-392933main_LCROSS_5_full.jpgLCROSS impacting the Moon: the "Flash" in MIR Light92 visiteThis Mid-InfraRed (MIR) image was taken in the last minutes of the LCROSS flight mission to the Moon.
The small white spot (enlarged in the insets) seen within the dark shadow of lunar crater walls is the initial flash created by the impact of a spent Centaur upper stage rocket. Traveling at 1,5 mps (miles-per-second), the Centaur rocket hit the Lunar Surface yesterday at 04:31 UT, followed a few minutes later by the shepherding LCROSS Spacecraft.
Earthbound observatories have reported capturing both impacts. But before crashing into the Lunar Surface itself, the LCROSS Spacecraft's instrumentation successfully recorded close-up the details of the rocket stage impact, the resulting crater and debris cloud.
In the coming weeks, data from the challenging mission will be used to search for signs of water in the Lunar Material blasted from the Surface.MareKromium
(3 voti)
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LRO-1000-391631-SouthPole.jpgLCROSS Impact Location140 visiteCaption NASA:"About 100 Km from the Lunar South Pole, the about 100 Km wide crater Cabeus is the target for two LCROSS mission spacecraft on course to impact the Moon tomorrow (October, 9th, 2009).
The shadowed crater is strongly foreshortened in this mosaic, a representative view of the Region for earthbound telescopes. The impacts are intended to create billowing debris plumes extending into the sunlight above the Crater Walls, that could reveal signs of water.
First to impact will be the mission's Centaur upper stage rocket at 11:30 UT (07:30 am Eastern Daylight Time - 13:30 Central Europe Time).
The instrumented LCROSS mothership will image the impact and then fly through the resulting debris plume analyzing the material blasted from the crater floor.
Four minutes after the first impact, the LCROSS mothership itself will crash into Cabeus. The plumes are expected to be visible in telescopes about 10" in diameter or larger, with the timing favoring Moon watchers in Western North America and the Pacific. NASA also plans to broadcast live footage from the LCROSS mission on NASA TV starting at 06:15 a.m. EDT - 12:15 CET on October 9, 2009".MareKromium
(3 voti)
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LRO-0008b-369444main_lroc_apollo17_lrg.jpgTaurus-Littrow Highlands: the Apollo 17 Landing Site (edm)54 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(3 voti)
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LRO-0000-365426main_nacl000000fd_middle.jpgCraters in the Lunar Highlands near Mare Nubium (1)62 visiteThese first two images show cratered regions near the moon's Mare Nubium Region, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's LROC instrument. Impact craters feature prominently in both images. Older craters have softened edges, while younger craters appear crisp.
Each image shows a region 1400 meters (0,87 miles) wide, and features as small as 3 meters (9,8 feet) wide can be discerned. The bottoms of both images face Lunar North.MareKromium
(3 voti)
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00-LRO-0002.jpgLiftoff...To the Moon!58 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(3 voti)
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LRO-M102215743LC-1-MF-LXTT.jpgOrbital View (1)91 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(2 voti)
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LRO-2500-Epigenes_A_Crater-2.jpgEpigenes A64 visiteAnother example of dark Impact Melt flows channeling through the preexisting material on the Crater Wall.
The white arrow points to the Crater Floor.
(this image is approx. 540 meters wide)MareKromium
(2 voti)
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LRO-2500-Epigenes_A_Crater-3.jpgEpigenes A60 visiteImpact Melt (the dark material) flowed around and over Rocky Outcrops on the upper portion of the Crater Wall.
The white arrow points to the Crater Floor.
The initial outward surge of material during the excavation of the crater threw Impact Melt near the Rim and then gravity pulled the Melt downward during the modification stage of the impact.
(this image is approx. 540 meters wide)MareKromium
(2 voti)
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LRO-2500-Epigenes_A_Crater-1.jpgEpigenes A69 visiteA plethora of Boulders surrounds braided flows of impact melt along the Inner Wall of the Crater Epigenes A. As the melt moves toward the Crater Floor (direction indicated by white arrow), the flow buries and moves boulders.
Epigenes A is an about 18-Km-diameter Impact Crater located at 66,9° North and 0,3° West, on the Rim of crater W. Bond.
(this NAC image is 540 meters wide)MareKromium
(2 voti)
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