Not all the secrets of space are hidden within kiloparsecs from the Earth. There are mysteries that are associated with objects much closer to us, for example, with the Moon.
For seven years now, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been closely watching our space neighbor. During this time, the station helped catalog many craters, found deposits of water ice, and even found evidence of recent volcanic activity. In addition, the device has witnessed the disasters of other space missions, in particular LCROSS.
The water ice found by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was found in unexpected areas. Previous missions have repeatedly found water on the moon, but they failed to draw up an accurate map of the distribution of ice. For a long time, scientists believed that water was in the shadow of craters at the lunar poles, and LRO confirmed this guess. However, the device made it possible to find out that not all ice is concentrated in these areas - part of the water lies in the ground, which is constantly illuminated by the Sun.
“It surprised us. It looks like temperature isn't the only factor determining the distribution of water on the moon. In the shade at the poles, where the temperature is -250 ° C, water ice can persist for billions of years. However, in other places, it seems that water is not so long ago, and it seems to be protected by the soil,”says John Keller, LRO project participant.
How water gets into the ground, constantly illuminated by the Sun, remains a mystery. However, this is not the only mystery faced by the scientists of the LRO mission. The spacecraft discovered smooth, dark regions with few craters on the lunar surface - cooled lava lakes that are only 100 million years old.
“This goes against what we have known about the Moon so far. It has always been thought that lunar volcanism ended a billion years ago,”says Noah Petro, a lunar geologist.
Some changes to the lunar surface are quite recent. In 2013, terrestrial observatories recorded a light flash on the moon. The LRO checked the area and found an eighteen meter crater.
“The debris flew surprisingly far away. Some of them fell 35 kilometers from the crater. This is much farther than you would expect when a stone about a meter in diameter falls,”says Keller.
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One of the seven instruments on board the LRO is the laser altimeter. Its beam scans the lunar surface in great detail. Using this device, scientists can detect old craters, the outlines of which have almost disappeared from the face of the moon.
The resulting maps make it possible to detect craters that formed on top of other craters, and thereby restore the chronology of the meteorite bombardment. Using lunar soil samples brought back by astronauts, scientists can determine the age of each layer of craters and better understand the evolution of the Earth-Moon system, as well as the history of the entire solar system.
ALEX KUDRIN