Recent Science Results from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

1. Recent Science Results from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Brooke C. Hsu LRO Education and Public Outreach Lead Presentation to the Night Sky Network 20 May 2010 Brooke Hsu and Deputy Project Manager Cathy Peddie visiting LRO in the clean room.

2. LRO: A Brief Primer • Launched: June 18, 2009 • Rocket: Atlas V 401 • Co-manifested with LCROSS spacecraft • Reached lunar orbit June 23, 2009 • Three months in 200 x 15 commissioning orbit • 50 km polar mapping orbit: September 15, 2009

3. LRO Instruments CRaTER: Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation Measures solar, cosmic background, and reflected lunar radiation

4. LRO Instruments DLRE: Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment Measures temperature in 8 channels Diviner lunar daytime temperatures

5. LRO Instruments LOLA: Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Uses laser pulses to measure topography, slope, and reflectance LOLA topographic map of the lunar nearside

6. LRO Instruments LAMP: Lyman Alpha Mapping Project Measures reflected uv radiation from distant stars Early LAMP measurements of the lunar south pole

7. LRO Instruments Mini-RF: Mini Radio Frequency Measures reflectivity using X and S band radar

8. LRO Instruments LROC: LRO Camera Visible, uv and infrared imagery LROC Narrow Angle Camera image of central peak of Copernicus Crater

9. LRO Instruments LEND: Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector Measures thermal and epithermal neutrons through suppressed hydrogen signals LEND measurements of Cabeus crater, LCROSS impact site

10. CRaTER – Elevated lunar radiation environment during historic deep solar minimum Lunar radiation of environment observed by CRaTER about twice that predicted from current models CRaTER provides unprecedented spectral resolution of radiation environment, allowing identification of both expected and unexpected radiation sources

11. CRaTER – Observation of Excess Radiation from Lunar Surface • Moon blocks access of some GCR • Blockage increases as altitude decreases • Radiation decreases toward lunar surface Moon blocks GCR, reducing radiation near surface, but secondary radiation source discovered, caused by GCR interactions with Moon • Secondary radiation from lunar surface • Net radiation remains elevated

12. First Diviner Day and Night Global Thermal Maps

13. Channel 9 Daytime Brightness Temperature Map

14. LAMP Measure Lyman-α Sky-glow • How can we see into the • permanantly shadowed • regions? • At 121.6 nm, the night sky is • aglow in Lyman-α light from H • atoms passing through the • solar system • Compared to direct sunlight • it would be like twilight on an • overcast day • Starlight is another (much • fainter) illumination source • we exploit IUE-Based FUV Stellar Illumination

15. LAMP South Pole Brightness Map Permanantly Shadowed Regions (PSRs) are darker than surrounding areas as far- ultraviolet wavelengths

16. How LEND Detects Neutrons

20. LROC: Newly Discovered Lobate Scarps Nansen Scarp • To date, fourteen previously unknown lobate scarps have been revealed in NAC images. • These scarps occur in the highlands and in the walls and floors of highland impact craters. Gregory Scarp

21. LROC: Age of the Lobate Scarps • Transected and disturbed meter-scale impact craters and a lack of superposed large-diameter (>500 m) impact craters indicates a very young age, likely much less than 1 Ga, for the lobate scarps. • The young age of the lobate scarps indicated by crosscutting relations with impact craters and the discovery of scarp at high lunar latitudes suggests global-scale, late-stage contraction of the Moon.

22. Mini-RF: Aristarchus-1

24. Other Resources Visualizations,animations, still images: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/LunarReconnaissanceOrbiter.html LRO website: http://lro.gsfc.nasa.gov/

25. Contact Information Brooke C. Hsu LRO Education and Public Outreach Lead brooke.c.hsu@nasa.gov