ALBERT

Description: Planet-wide (1 km/pixel and 5 km/pixel) Digital Elevation Models (DEM) of the Moon have been produced using Clementine UVVIS (Ultraviolet-Visible) stereo. Six new basins have been discovered, two suspected basins have been confirmed, and the dimensions of existing basins better defined. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Description: The Mini-RF radar instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft mapped both lunar poles in two different RF wavelengths (complete mapping at 12.6 cm S-band and partial mapping at 4.2 cm X-band) in two look directions, removing much of the ambiguity of previous Earth- and spacecraft-based radar mapping of the Moon's polar regions. The poles are typical highland terrain, showing expected values of radar cross section (albedo) and circular polarization ratio (CPR). Most fresh craters display high values of CPR in and outside the crater rim; the pattern of these CPR distributions is consistent with high levels of wavelength-scale surface roughness associated with the presence of block fields, impact melt flows, and fallback breccia. A different class of polar crater exhibits high CPR only in their interiors, interiors that are both permanently dark and very cold (less than 100 K). Application of scattering models developed previously suggests that these anomalously high-CPR deposits exhibit behavior consistent with the presence of water ice. If this interpretation is correct, then both poles may contain several hundred million tons of water in the form of relatively "clean" ice, all within the upper couple of meters of the lunar surface. The existence of significant water ice deposits enables both long-term human habitation of the Moon and the creation of a permanent cislunar space transportation system based upon the harvest and use of lunar propellant.

Description: Clementine color image data and analyses of 778 lunar impact glasses have been used together to suggest that the highlands of the Fra Mauro region consist of a KREEP-rich regolith overlying a feldspathic terrain. Low-KREEP impact glasses may possess a memory of impacts prior to 3.9 Ga ago. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Description: Lunar impact glasses possess the unmodified refractory element ratios of the original fused target materials at the sites of impacts. These target materials are usually regolith. 866 glasses from the Apollo 16 landing site have been analyzed by electron microprobe in this study. These glasses show significant variation and hint at the existence of highland basalt (HB) regolith compositions atypical of the usual HB compositions historically found at the Apollo 16 site. Additionally, a large number of mare glasses have been identified. Clementine color image data have been used to construct iron, titanium, and aluminum maps for comparison with the sample database. These maps suggest that the Apollo 16 landing site is largely composed of anorthositic material and that mare compositions are not found close by. Nine of these impact glasses have been dated by the Ar-40/Ar-39 technique and may be used to constrain the impact history at the Apollo 16 landing site. These results illustrate how lunar impact glasses together with orbital data can provide geochemical constraints on the local and regional geology of the Moon.

Description: Block size distributions of impact deposits on the Moon are diagnostic of the impact process and environmental effects, such as target lithology and weathering. Block size distributions are also important factors in trafficability, habitability, and possibly the identification of indigenous resources. Lunar block sizes have been investigated for many years for many purposes [e.g., 1-3]. An unresolved issue is the extent to which lunar block size distributions can be extrapolated to scales smaller than limits of resolution of direct measurement. This would seem to be a straightforward statistical application, but it is complicated by two issues. First, the cumulative size frequency distribution of observable boulders rolls over due to resolution limitations at the small end. Second, statistical regression provides the best fit only around the centroid of the data [4]. Confidence and prediction limits splay away from the best fit at the endpoints resulting in inferences in the boulder density at the CPR scale that can differ by many orders of magnitude [4]. These issues were originally investigated by Cintala and McBride [2] using Surveyor data. The objective of this study was to determine whether the measured block size distributions from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera - Narrow Angle Camera (LROC-NAC) images (m-scale resolution) can be used to infer the block size distribution at length scales comparable to Mini-RF Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) scales, nominally taken as 10 cm. This would set the stage for assessing correlations of inferred block size distributions with CPR returns [6].

Description: A major objective of the Mini-RF experiment is to distinguish lunar surfaces that may contain water/ice deposits [1,2]. Better understanding of the backscattering properties of craters of varying age and size is crucial for interpreting data received from the Mini-RF. The Mini-RF transmits a circularly polarized RF electromagnetic energy and coherently receives orthogonal linear polarization echoes [1]. The Mini- RF maps in two separate bands ( =12.6 and 4.5 cm) at a high resolution mode of 30 m/pixel [1]. Given the variables mentioned, the four stokes parameters are reconstructed. The Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) is calculated for the purposes of understanding subsurface and surface roughness. The CPR is determined from reflections acquired from the ratio of power of the transmitted radio wave in same sense to the reflected radio wave in the opposite sense [1]. Ice in the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) would be transparent to radar, but the inclusions of materials and imperfections would cause the radio wave to reflect multiple times [3], enhancing the number of same sense reflections and increasing the CPR. In addition, ice also displays the coherent backscatter opposition effect (CBOE), an interferrometric addition of same sense backscatter that further increases the CPR of ice targets [7]. High CPR values also correlate to multiple reflections and are typically associated with very rough surfaces [3]. The average dry lunar surface has a CPR in the range of 0.2-0.4 at 48deg incidence [3]. The purpose of this study is to begin to quantify degrees of surface wavelength-scale roughness with CPR and to understand how such surface roughness is created and gradually destroyed by erosion on the lunar surface. Another goal is to identify and isolate the possible causes of high CPR within the shadowed areas of anomalous polar craters [3]. All the studied craters are non-polar, so that we can see into their interiors in NAC images. The idea is to understand what controls blockiness in these craters so that we can rule out rocks (and rule in ice) for the anomalous polar dark ones [3].

Description: Impact events have played an important role in the evolution of planets and small bodies in the Solar System. Meteorites, lunar melt rocks, and lunar impact glasses provide important information about the geology of the parent body and the age of the impacting episodes. Over 2400 impact glasses from 4 Apollo regolith samples have been geochemically analyzed and a subset has been dated by the (40)Ar/(39)Ar method. New results, consistent with 2 break-ups in the Asteroid Belt, are presented here. Our previous study reported that (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages from 9 impact glasses showed that the Moon experienced significant impacts at approx. 800 Ma and at approx. 3800 Ma ago, somewhere in the vicinity of the Apollo 16 landing site. Additionally, reported on Apollo 12 samples with ages around 800 Ma, together implying global bombardment events. New data on 7 glasses from regolith sample 66041,127 show that the Moon also experienced impact events at approx. 300 Ma and 〉 500 Ma ago, which may coincide with the break-ups in the Asteroid Belt of the L- and H-chrondrite parent bodies. Since meteoritic evidence for these breakups has been found on Earth, it follows that evidence should be found in lunar samples as well. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Description: The Constellation program (CxP) has developed a list of 50 sites of interest on the Moon which will be targeted by the LRO narrow angle camera. The list has also been provided to the M~ team to supplement their targeting list. This list does not represent a "site selection" process; rather the goal was to find "representative" sites and terrains to understand the range of possible surface conditions for human lunar exploration to aid engineering design and operational planning. The list compilers leveraged heavily on past site selection work (e.g. Geoscience and a Lunar Base Workshop - 1988, Site Selection Strategy for a Lunar Outpost - 1990, Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) - 2005). Considerations included scientific, resource utilization, and operational merits, and a desire to span lunar terrain types. The targets have been organized into two "tiers" of 25 sites each to provide a relative priority ranking in the event of mutual interference. A LEAG SAT (special action team) was established to validate and recommend modifications to the list. This SAT was chaired by Dr. Paul Lucey. They provided their final results to CxP in May. Dr. Wendell Mendell will organize an on-going analysis of the data as they come down to ensure data quality and determine if and when a site has sufficient data to be retired from the list. The list was compiled using the best available data, however, it is understood that with the flood of new lunar data, minor modifications or adjustments may be required.

Description: Maria Tranquillitatis and Fecunditatis have been mapped based on Clementine image mosaics and derived iron and titanium maps. Impact craters served as stratigraphic probes enabling better delineation of compositionally different basaltic units, determining the distribution of subsurface basalts, and providing estimates of total basalt thickness and the thickness of the surface units. Collected data indicate that volcanism in these maria started with the eruption of low-Ti basalts and evolved toward medium- and high-Ti basalts. Some of the high-Ti basalts in Mare Tranquillitatis began erupting early and were contemporaneous with the low- and medium-Ti basalts; these units form the oldest units exposed on the mare surface. Mare Tranquillitatis is mostly covered with high- Ti basalts. In Mare Fecunditatis, the volume of erupting basalts clearly decreased as the Ti content increased, and the high-Ti basalts occur as a few patches on the mare surface. The basalt in both maria is on the order of several hundred meters thick and locally may be as thick as 1600 m. The new basalt thickness estimates generally fall within the range set by earlier studies, although locally differ. The medium- to high-Ti basalts exposed at the surfaces of both maria are meters to tens of meters thick.