AK&M 22 November 2024 14:40
The staff of the Laboratory of Comparative Planetary Science of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GEOCHI RAS) together with colleagues from China performed a photogeological analysis of images of the permanently shaded part of the lunar crater Shoemaker.
Shoemaker crater is located in the southern circumpolar region of the Moon, which is considered by many space agencies around the world as the most promising place to deploy a lunar base. First of all, this is due to the fact that there are constantly shaded craters, the so-called “cold traps”, in which water ice is present.
Scientists analyzed images taken by the ShadowCam camera developed at the University of Arizona and installed on board the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter satellite. Based on these images, which have a resolution of about 1.6 meters, the researchers have mapped four sections of the permanently shaded bottom and the lower part of the inner slopes of Shoemaker crater, where accumulations of water ice may be located.
The results of the analysis confirmed the preliminary conclusions of scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences that the morphology of the surface here, as in normally illuminated areas of the Moon, is determined mainly by numerous smaller craters with a diameter of less than 1 km. However, the images show that the outer ends of the shaft of some of these craters are very sharp. In this way they resemble many craters on Mars. It is believed that this is due to the presence of noticeable amounts of water ice in the material in which the crater is formed. According to scientists, when the emissions composing the shaft move, the ice melts and the material becomes viscous. Further study of such craters is of both theoretical and practical interest (water for lunar bases).
The study was carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.
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