It is a typical misinterpretation that the moon has a “dull” side. Like a roast chicken, the moon’s rotation ensures a nice, even sun bath around its equator.
But there are pockets that are never struck by lightning: deep, hollow craters at high latitudes, in the lunar polar regions, with high walls that shield the crater floor from strong solar radiation.
In these mysterious lunar holes, which maintain sub-zero temperatures around -163 degrees Celsius (-260 degrees Fahrenheit), scientists believe all sorts of interesting things can happen.
Well, basically one: water ice, in patches several meters thick.
We probably won’t know for sure until at least 2024, the year NASA plans to send astronauts to its tiny lunar friend to check it out… but in the meantime, scientists have been exploring these shadowy regions. Found a way to light up for a glimpse. .
The results could help decide which of the 13 candidate landing areas are most likely to produce the best science, as well as help understand the persistently dark and cold spots that are likely to produce the best science. represent one of the most mysterious frontiers of the Moon.
First, the bad news: It looks like we’re going to have to dig up the ice, according to Valentin Bickel, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich in Switzerland who led the research.
“There is no evidence of pure surface ice in the shadowed regions, indicating that any ice must be mixed with lunar soil or subsurface,” says Buckle. .
Observing the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon seems an impossible task. However, although direct sunlight cannot reach the pit floor, the holes are not completely lightless.
Some light, not much, but some, bounces off nearby mountains and crater walls into shadowed areas, and is picked up by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) currently orbiting the Moon.
Unfortunately, that data is too noisy to tell the details of what’s in the craters.
Enter a machine learning algorithm called U-net Hyper-Efficient Denoising Software (HORUS). This can clean up the noise in the LRO data and reveal what is hidden in the moon’s shadow.
The team deployed HORUS to image permanently shadowed areas greater than 40 meters (130 feet) in diameter in the Artemis survey area. The researchers said the images were able to resolve meter-scale features, information that will help plan lunar exploration.
“Visual trajectories in permanently shadowed areas can now be designed, greatly reducing the risks to Artemis astronauts and robotic explorers,” said Lunar and Planetary Institute and NASA geologists. David Kring explains.
This is especially valuable since the Artemis spacesuit will only provide a limited amount of time in the cold of the Shadow Pits. Current designs allow only two hours. Being able to effectively map out which features to look for and which to avoid will maximize those times.
Robotic missions will also benefit from the data.
Later this year, NASA will send a robotic lander to the lunar south pole, not far from one of the candidate Artemis landing areas. The results of the team’s analysis of the LRO data will also have implications for the mission.
“We found a crater about 50 meters wide in the shadow area and other surface features that could change where the Intuitive Machines hopper lands later this year,” says Buckle.
If you’re going to land on the moon, it’s best to know ahead of time what you’re getting into.
