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Recent studies suggest there may be a bit of water (frozen) near the moon’s poles. Photo courtesy NASA.
Radars scans suggest shaded polar regions may hold patches of ice
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — Detailed radars scans of a crater near the moon’s South Pole add to the growing evidence that there may be remnants of water frozen as ice in shady cliffs and canyons.
The scans show that much as 5 to 10 percent of material, by weight, could be patchy ice, according to the team of researchers led by Bradley Thomson at Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing.
The data came fro the Mini-RF radar on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which did the first orbital radar measurements of Shackleton crater, a high-priority target for future exploration.
The observations indicate an enhanced radar polarization signature, which is consistent with the presence of small amounts of ice in the rough inner wall slopes of the crater. Thomson and his colleagues reported the findings in a paper recently published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. (more…)
Filed under: Environment | Tagged: Goddard Space Flight Center, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Lunar south pole, Moon, NASA, Shackleton Crater, water on the moon | 1 Comment »
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