Other
Scientific paper
Jan 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002mbns.conf....6b&link_type=abstract
The Moon Beyond 2002: Next Steps in Lunar Science and Exploration, p. 6
Other
Lunar Surface, Ice, Water, Lunar Shadow, Polar Regions, Environment Models, Lunar Exploration
Scientific paper
Researchers in the early 1960's concluded that water ice could survive in permanently shaded regions in the lunar polar regions. Results from the Apollo missions indicated that the lunar rock and soil samples were extremely desicated, however, casting doubt on the possibility. Later studies seemed to either support the idea or not, but no conclusive evidence was found either way. In the summer of 1991, new radar maps of the surface of Mercury showed features in the polar regions which seemed to indicate the presence of large amounts of water ice, reinvigorating the discussion of water ice in the polar regions of the Moon. Recent modelling has shown that there should be sufficient supply of water to the lunar surface, that transport should be efficient enough to form the deposits, and that the temperatures are low enough to keep the water ice stable. So it certainly seems possible that water ice deposits could exist in the permanently shaded craters in the polar regions of the Moon. High resolution radar images of the lunar polar regions were obtained in May and August of 1992 to try to address this question. The Arecibo telescope was used in a manner similar to that used to obtain the Mercury images, and radar maps of the two polar regions were obtained, with a resolution of about 125 m. Detailed examination of these maps showed no regions similar to those seen on Mercury. Another result from this experiment was that it was much more likely that any such deposits, if they existed, would be located in the south polar regions rather than the north polar regions, because the amount of permanently shadowed terrain is much larger in the south than in the north. A similar conclusion was reached by examining images from the Clementine spacecraft. By combining together all of the photographs of the north and south polar regions, it could be seen which regions were never illuminated during the time in which the photos were taken. It was clear from these photos that there is much more area in the south polar region which remains in perpetual shadow than in the north polar region. Subsequent studies have confirmed and more accurately quantified this result, showing that there is about twice as much permanently shadowed terrain in the south polar regions as in the north.
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