Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.u42b..03j&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #U42B-03
Physics
Plasma Physics
5400 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets, 6200 Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects, 7500 Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy, 7800 Space Plasma Physics, 7900 Space Weather
Scientific paper
NASA's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) will return humans to the Moon and will include robotic precursor missions in its early phases, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, now in development. Many opportunities for scientific investigations will arise from this program of exploration. Such opportunities will span across disciplines of planetary science, astrophysics, heliophysics, and Earth science via remote observation and monitoring. This abstract focuses on some of the key lunar science objectives that can be addressed with robotic and human missions. Even after 35+ years of study of Apollo samples and data, and global remote sensing missions of the 1990's, key lunar science questions remain. Apollo provided ground truth for the central nearside, but ground truth is lacking for the lunar farside and poles. Lunar meteorites provide knowledge about areas potentially far distant from the central nearside, but ground truth in key areas such as the farside South Pole-Aitken Basin, which provides access to the lower crust and possibly the upper mantle, will enable more direct correlations between the lunar meteorites and global remotely sensed data. Extending and improving knowledge of surface compositions, including partially buried basalt deposits, globally, is needed to better understand the composition of the Moon's crust as a function of depth and of the mantle, and to provide new tests of the Moon's origin and early surface and internal evolution. These issues can be addressed in part with robotic measurements on the surface; however, samples cached for return to Earth are needed for detailed chemical, lithologic, and geochronologic investigations. Apollo experience has shown that regolith samples and/or rock fragments sieved from regolith provide a wealth of information that can be interpreted within the context of regional geology. Targeted sampling by humans and human/robotic teams can optimize sampling strategies. Detailed knowledge of specific sites on local to regional geologic scales is needed to assess regolith resources as well as science activities that can be accomplished from a lunar outpost. Critical resources will include O, H, other solar-wind-implanted gases, and construction materials; understanding their distribution and concentration within the local geologic setting is required. Assessment of ilmenite-rich regolith developed on high-Ti basalt surfaces is a key resource development activity. Early missions can contribute importantly to network science such as seismic and heat-flow experiments. Consideration must be given to synergistic activities with a view to long-term results and/or international collaboration, for example, through use of communication satellites to better determine far-side gravity and to test models of crust/mantle structure, impact-basin formation and compensation, and thermal history.
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