Exploration Potential for Highly Illuminated Points at the Lunar Poles (2011)

Undergraduate: Daven Quinn

Faculty Advisor: Allen Glazner
Department: Geology

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Due to mountainous topography and the Moon’s low axial tilt, the lunar poles experience extreme illumination conditions. Large areas inside craters are permanently in shadow. These areas are extremely cold and may contain large quantities of water ice. Near these shadowed areas are ridges that are illuminated up to ~90% of the year. These locations receive constant sunlight and have a stable thermal environment, making them viable targets for exploration.
Long-term direct study of these locations has not been undertaken due to their positions out of view of the Earth. However, illumination modeling using topographic data allows the examination of present and future surface conditions across the polar regions. This project models illumination using recent high-fidelity data from the NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Average illumination, the duration of shadows, and the duration of longest sunlight are calculated for the lunar year 2020 and the distribution of permanent shadow at the poles is mapped. Detailed illumination statistics are compiled for specific points illuminated more than 80% of the year. Several high-illumination points are found at each pole up to 130 km from the pole. Several points on the South Pole, especially points near the western rim of Shackleton Crater and the northern rim of Scott Crater, are located at high, flat, massifs that are potentially ideal sites for future exploration of the Moon.