Space Topics: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
The Year in Pictures: 2009
Lasers Map the Moon's Shape
LOLA map of the lunar south pole
Credit: NASA / GSFC
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The two most critical types of data for planning future landings on the
Moon are photos
of the surface and information on the topography, including slope and roughness,
of the surface. The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) on Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter is gathering the second type of data, providing maps of lunar topography
that have already helped mission planners to select the target
point for the LCROSS lunar impactor mission.
This topographic map of the lunar south
pole (showing everything poleward of 75 degrees south latitude, with the
near side on the top and far side on the bottom) was produced from the first
two months' worth of LOLA data and includes many of the permanently shadowed
craters that might contain reservoirs of water ice. The scale at the top
of the image indicates how color corresponds to elevation in kilometers;
there are more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) of relief in this map. The LCROSS
target, the crater Cabeus, is a medium-blue depression at about 10:30 on
the innermost circle on this map, corresponding to a position of about 85
degrees south, 45 degrees west. Curving across the image from the center
to the right-hand edge is a ridge of particularly high topography that marks
the rim of the South Pole–Aitken
basin, an enormous impact scar that mars the Moon's far side. The lowest
topography is found on the bottom (far side) part of the LOLA map, where
the landscape marches down into the bottom of the basin. The South Pole–Aitken
basin is a favorite target for a future planned sample-return mission or
even human landing, as the impact crater should provide access to rocks that
originally formed deep within the Moon.
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