| Piú votate - SMART-1: the Moon from ESA |
Z-104-TheMoon-Eclipse030307_AT_ESTEC1.jpgAfter the end of Totality...61 visiteCaption ESA:"This image was taken during the Partial Eclipse Phase of the March, 3rd, 2007 Total Lunar Eclipse, about 10 minutes after the end of totality".MareKromium
(6 voti)
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Z-110-The_Moon-PlaskettCrater-00.jpgThe Spectacular Crater Plaskett63 visiteCaption ESA:"This image, taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows crater Plaskett on the Moon.
This image was taken by SMART-1 from its polar orbit, at an altitude of 3000 Km over the surface and with a ground resolution of 300 mt per pixel.
Plaskett crater sits at 82,1° North and 174,0° East, with its centre just 240 Km away from the Lunar North Pole.
The crater, about 109 Km across, is named after the Canadian astronomer John Stanley Plaskett (1865–1941)".MareKromium
(6 voti)
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Z-111-The_Moon-CraterPentland.jpgIn the vicinities of Crater Pentland (HR)57 visiteCaption ESA:"This HR image, taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA’s SMART-1 spacecraft, shows an area close to crater Pentland on the Moon.
AMIE obtained this sequence on 18 March 2006 from a distance of 573 Km from the surface, with a ground resolution of 52 mt per pixel. The imaged area is centred at a Latitude of 67,7º South and a Longitude of 18,3º East". MareKromium
(5 voti)
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36-Shackleton_Crater-AMI_EAE3_001775_00002_00020.jpgSchakleton Crater in natural colors65 visiteThe Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment Camera (AMIE) obtained this image on 13 January 2006 - close to the time of Lunar Southern Summer - from a distance of about 646 Km over the surface and with a ground resolution of 60 mt per pixel.
Shackleton crater lies at the Lunar South Pole (89,54° S. Lat. and 0° East Lng.) and has a diameter of approx. 19 Km.
SMART-1 monitored this area almost every orbit. This will allow to produce very high resolution maps of the area as well as illumination maps. The long shadows that surround the crater make it very hard to observe. The analysis of the data obtained allowed a very detailed map of its rim, surrounding ejectas and craters.
SMART-1 also made long repeated exposures to see inside the shadowed areas. The purpose was detecting the very weak reflected light from the crater rims, and therefore study the surface reflection properties (albedo) and its spectral variations (mineralogical composition). These properties could reveal patchy ice surface layers inside the crater.
On the 2-kilometre wide inner edge of the crater ridge, at times barely visible from Earth, astronomers using ground radio-telescopes have recently reported they were not able to detect a distinctive signature of thick deposits of ice in the area. Earlier measurements by NASA's Lunar Prospector reported of hydrogen enhancement over large shadowed areas.
"We still do not know if this hydrogen is due to enhanced trapping of solar wind, or to the water ice brought on the Moon by the bombardment of comets and asteroids," says Bernard Foing, ESA's SMART-1 Project Scientist. "These bodies may have deposited on the Moon patchy layers of ice filling about 1.5 percent of the areas in permanent shadow, down to one metre below the surface."
"We need to analyse all remote sensing data sets consistently. Future lander and rover missions to the Moon will help in the search and characterisation of lunar polar ice, both on the surface and below the subsurface," Foing continues. "In any case, one day we may even be able to simply combine the implanted hydrogen and the oxygen extracted from lunar rocks to produce clean water, like we do in laboratory experiments on Earth.”
The crater is named after Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), an explorer famous for his Antartic expeditions.
MareKromium
(5 voti)
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01-SMART-1%20northpole29Dec4.jpgThe "North Pole" of the Moon135 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This image was taken by the AMIE camera on board SMART-1 on 29 December 2004 from a distance of 5.500 Km.
It shows an area, 275 Km across, of heavily cratered highland terrain close to the Lunar North Pole (upper left corner).
The image is used to monitor illumination of the polar areas, and long shadows cast by large crater rims".
(5 voti)
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Z-108-The_Moon-OresmeCrater.jpgOresme Crater60 visiteCaption ESA:"This image mosaic was obtained by the AMIE camera onboard the SMART-1 spacecraft. The most prominent feature is the 76 Km crater Oresme that originated in the Nectarian age.
It is located on the Far-Side of the Moon, across the North-Western part of the Lunar South Pole-Aitken Giant Impact Basin".MareKromium
(4 voti)
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Z-109-The_Moon-PlaskettCrater.jpgCrater Plaskett & Companions62 visiteCaption ESA:"Plaskett crater is the bottom crater in this mosaic built with images taken by the Advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft. Plaskett and its two Companion Craters sit near the Moon’s North Pole.
The shadow lengths can be used to calculate the height of surface features.
Data like this can be turned into virtual simulations of the surface to help engineers design suitable landers. From its rim, the full Earth would graze just above the horizon for only a few days per month. However some areas within the Crater never see the Earth.
Rozhdestvenskiy is a large lunar crater of about 177 Km of diameter at it is centered at 85,2° North and 155,4° West (just above Plaskett).
Its northern rim is just 60 Km from the North Pole".MareKromium
(4 voti)
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99-Orbite01_H.jpgThe "end" of SMART-180 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This artist's impression shows the trajectory of ESA SMART-1 Spacecraft in the final phase of its mission, due to end through a small impact on the Lunar Surface.
After two weeks of manoeuvres started on 19 June and concluded on 2 July 2006, the impact is now set to occur on the Near Side and most probably at 05:41 UT (such as 07:41 Central Europe Standard Time) on 3 September 2006".
(4 voti)
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12-CassiniCrater-SMART-1_AMIE_CassiniCrater_H.jpgCassini Crater103 visiteOriginal ESA caption:"This image of Crater Cassini was taken on 19 January 2005 with the highly compact, lightweight and rugged AMIE camera on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft - note: AMIE stands for the Advanced Moon Micro-Imager Experiment (AMIE) experiment. Cassini has a diameter of 57 km and is located at 40º North, on the edge of Mare Imbrium".
(4 voti)
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05-CopernicusHD.jpgThe "Peaks" of Eternal Sun-light (2)213 visiteAstronomers say they have identified a place on the Moon that lies in permanent Sunlight and close to regions suspected to hold water ice: in short, an ideal location for a tentative Lunar Colony.
The spot is located on a highland close to the Lunar North Pole, between 3 large impact craters called Peary, Hermite and Rozhdestvensky (report in Thursday's issue of Nature, the British weekly Science Journal).
The temperature there is estimated to range between -40 and
-60°C, which by Lunar Standards is relatively balmy and stable.
By comparison, the temperature on the Moon's equator ranges from -180°C to +100°C!
Since the area is bathed in perpetual Sun-light, a future human outpost on the Moon could draw on abundant solar energy and,
in addition, the Lunar Pioneers could tap into supplies of water if (as some Scientists speculate) ice lurks in permanently shadowed craters at the Lunar Poles. The study is lead-authored by Ben Bussey of Johns Hopkins University, Maryland.
In January 2004, President George W. Bush sketched plans for a US return to the Moon as early as 2015, saying a lunar base would be a launch pad for manned missions to Mars and "across our Solar System".
(4 voti)
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02-NorthPole.jpgThe "North Pole" of the Moon142 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This image was taken by the AMIE camera on board SMART-1 on 19 January 2005 (close to the northern winter solstice) from a distance of 5000 Km.
The image shows an area 250 Km wide near the Lunar North Pole.
The illuminated part of the crater rim at the top of the image is very close to the Lunar North Pole and is a candidate for a peak of eternal sunlight".
(4 voti)
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Z-100-observation_SMART-1_hawaii_H.jpgImpact Time (the sequence)!78 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This impressive sequence of SMART-1 impact images was captured by the 3,6-meter optical/infrared Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), Hawaii, 3 September 2006.
The CFHT observed the projected impact area between 07:00 - 08:44 CEST (05:00 06:44 UT). The impact flash lasted only about 1 millisecond. It may have been caused by the thermal emission from the impact itself or by the release of spacecraft volatiles, such as the small amount of hydrazine fuel remaining on board".
(3 voti)
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