The South pole region of the moon as seen by clementine

The Clementine mission has provided the first comprehensive set of high-resolution images of the south pole region of the moon. Within 5 degrees of latitude of the pole, an area of an estimated 30,000 square kilometers remained in shadow during a full lunar rotation and is a promising target for future exploration for ice deposits. The Schr?dinger Basin (320 kilometers in diameter), centered at 75 degrees S, is one of the two youngest, least modified, great multiring impact basins on the moon. A large maar-type volcano localized along a graben within the Schr?dinger Basin probably erupted between 1 and 2 billion years ago.     

The clementine mission to the moon: scientific overview

In the course of 71 days in lunar orbit, from 19 February to 3 May 1994, the Clementine spacecraft acquired just under two million digital images of the moon at visible and infrared wavelengths. These data are enabling the global mapping of the rock types of the lunar crust and the first detailed investigation of the geology of the lunar polar regions and the lunar far side. In addition, laser-ranging measurements provided the first view of the global topographic figure of the moon. The topography of many ancient impact basins has been measured, and a global map of the thickness of the lunar crust has been derived from the topography and gravity.     

The shape and internal structure of the moon from the clementine mission

Global topographic and gravitational field models derived from data collected by the Clementine spacecraft reveal a new picture of the shape and internal structure of the moon. The moon exhibits a 16-kilometer range of elevation, with the greatest topographic excursions occurring on the far side. Lunar highlands are in a state of near-isostatic compensation, whereas impact basins display a wide range of compensation states that do not correlate simply with basin size or age. A global crustal thickness map reveals crustal thinning under all resolvable lunar basins. The results indicate that the structure and thermal history of the moon are more complex than was previously believed.     

Topography of the northern hemisphere of Mercury from MESSENGER laser altimetry

Laser altimetry by the MESSENGER spacecraft has yielded a topographic model of the northern hemisphere of Mercury. The dynamic range of elevations is considerably smaller than those of Mars or the Moon. The most prominent feature is an extensive lowland at high northern latitudes that hosts the volcanic northern plains. Within this lowland is a broad topographic rise that experienced uplift after plains emplacement. The interior of the 1500-km-diameter Caloris impact basin has been modified so that part of the basin floor now stands higher than the rim. The elevated portion of the floor of Caloris appears to be part of a quasi-linear rise that extends for approximately half the planetary circumference at mid-latitudes. Collectively, these features imply that long-wavelength changes to Mercury's topography occurred after the earliest phases of the planet's geological history.     

Water on the moon?

If the planets formed at falling temperatures with volatile substances accreting last, the low abundance of lead, bismuth, indium, and thallium in lunar rocks implies an initial water content of no more than 370 grams per square centimeter, and probably much less. The depletion of volatile substances might be expected a priori if the moon accreted as an original satellite of the earth.     

Meteoroid storms detected on the moon

Seismometers on the moon have detected several brief periods of enhanc ed meteoroid-impact activity, believed to represent encounters of the moon with "c louds" of objec ts in the kilogram range. The latest and most active encounter, in June 1975, is interpreted as a meteoroid c(loud of diameter 0.1 astronomical unit and total mass 10(l3) to 10(14) grams.     

Planetary science. Nitrogen on the moon

The nitrogen isotopic compositions seen in lunar soils have long been a mystery to planetary scientists. As Becker discusses in his Perspective, new techniques, such as the depth profiling of mineral grains reported by Hashizume et al., are now shedding some light on the matter, allowing some theories to be excluded. Nevertheless, the relative role of the solar wind and other processes remains hotly debated.     

Seismic data from man-made impacts on the moon

Unusually long reverberations were recorded from two lunar impacts by a seismic station installed on the lunar surface by the Apollo 12 astronauts. Seismic data from these impacts suggest that the lunar mare in the region of the Apollo 12 landing site consists of material with very low seismic velocities near the surface, with velocity increasing with depth to 5 to 6 kilometers per second (for compressional waves) at a depth of 20 kilometers. Absorption of seismic waves in this structure is extremely low relative to typical continental crustal materials on earth. It is unlikely that a major boundary similar to the crustmantle interface on earth exists in the outer 20 kilometers of the moon. A combination of dispersion and scattering of surface waves probably explains the lunar seismic reverberation. Scattering of these waves implies the presence of heterogeneity within the outer zone of the mare on a scale of from several hundred meters (or less) to several kilometers. Seismic signals from 160 events of natural origin have been recorded during the first 7 months of operation of the Apollo 12 seismic station. At least 26 of the natural events are small moonquakes. Many of the natural events are thought to be meteoroid impacts.     

Abundance and distribution of iron on the moon

The abundance and distribution of iron on the moon is derived from a near-global data set from Clementine. The determined iron content of the lunar highlands crust ( approximately 3 percent iron by weight) supports the hypothesis that much of the lunar crust was derived from a magma ocean. The iron content of lower crustal material exposed by the South Pole-Aitken impact basin on the lunar farside is higher ( approximately 7 to 8 percent by weight) and consistent with a basaltic composition. This composition supports earlier evidence that the lunar crust becomes more mafic with depth. The data also suggest that the bulk composition of the moon differs from that of the Earth's mantle. This difference excludes models for lunar origin that require the Earth and moon to have the same compositions, such as fission and coaccretion, and favors giant impact and capture.     

Water on the moon and a new nondimensional number

A nondimensional number called the Jeffreys number, which represents the ratio of the Reynolds number to the Froude number, is useful in geophysical problems related to the motion of viscous masses under gravity. The Jetireys number is used to show that it is impossible for the lunar maria to be underlain by a layer of material 1 kilometer thick having the plastic properties of ice.     

Whole body response of the moon to electromagnetic induction by the solar wind

A comparison has been made of the interplanetary magnetic field as measured both by Apollo 12 on the lunar surface and by Explorer 35 in orbit around the moon. Two examples are given, one of a step change in the field vector and another of a sinusoidally varying field. A large response measured on the surface is attributed to confinement of the induced field lines between the streaming solar plasma and the high-conductivity interior. A steep bulk electrical conductivity gradient in the lunar crust is implied, with a confining layer roughly 100 kilometers deep.     

Missile inpacts as sources of seismic energy on the moon

Seismic signals recorded from impacts of missiles at the White Sands Missile Range are radically different from the signal recorded from the Apollo 12 lunar module impact. This implies that lunar structure to depths of at least 10 to 20 kilometers is quite different from the typical structure of the earth's crust. Results obtained from this study can be used to predict seismic wave amplitudes from future man-made lunar impacts. Seismic energy and crater dimensions from impacts are compared with measurements from chemical explosions.     

Imbrian-age highland volcanism on the moon: the gruithuisen and mairan domes

The Gruithuisen and Mairan domes on the moon represent morphologically and spectrally distinct nonmare extrusive volcanic features of Imbrian age. The composition, morphology, and age relationships of the domes indicate that nonmare extrusive volcanism in the northern Procellarum region of the moon continued until about 3.3 x 10(9) to 3.6 x 10(9) years ago and was partially contemporaneous with the emplacement of the main sequence of mare deposits.     

Late accretion on the earliest planetesimals revealed by the highly siderophile elements

Late accretion of primitive chondritic material to Earth, the Moon, and Mars, after core formation had ceased, can account for the absolute and relative abundances of highly siderophile elements (HSEs) in their silicate mantles. Here we show that smaller planetesimals also possess elevated HSE abundances in chondritic proportions. This demonstrates that late addition of chondritic material was a common feature of all differentiated planets and planetesimals, irrespective of when they accreted; occurring ≤5 to ≥150 million years after the formation of the solar system. Parent-body size played a role in producing variations in absolute HSE abundances among these bodies; however, the oxidation state of the body exerted the major control by influencing the extent to which late-accreted material was mixed into the silicate mantle rather than removed to the core.