Images Featured Sites Quickmap Videos Gigapan Exhibits Exciting New Images from The LROC Team. Total posts from Polar Regions 37 Search Mysteries Remain Frozen in our Celestial Backyard Traversability conditions and landing site assessment map for the lunar south polar region. The percentage of time that the surface will be illuminated and visible to the Earth is modeled for the expected Artemis timeframe (July 9, 2024 - June 11, 2025) at 500 m/pixel. Ideal conditions for surface activities (<10° slope and >45% sunlight (SUN) and Earth (E) line-of-sight) are indicated by light yellow. Areas indicative of potential water ice on the surface are shown in light pink. Published on 13 Jun 2023 Malapert Massif Malapert massif (informal name) is thought to be a remnant of the South Pole - Aitken basin rim, which formed more than 4 billion years ago. More recently, this magnificent peak (lower left) was selected as an Artemis 3 candidate landing region. Image is 25 kilometers wide in the center, Narrow Angle Camera M1432398306LR (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University). Published on 13 Mar 2023 Where is the South Pole? Often hidden in shadows, the south pole (90°S, 0°E) occurs just inside the rim of Shackleton crater (20-kilometer diameter). This spectacular view, aimed at the pole, was acquired on 18 May 2022. The image is 2400 meters wide in the middle of this north-to-south view, M1407524099LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Published on 19 Oct 2022 Sea of Night Rim of Aepinus crater rising above a sea of dark during a winter night. Illuminated area 1.5 kilometers by 6.0 kilometers, NAC M1338480133LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Published on 19 May 2020 Obscured in the Lunar Highlands? The Chandrayaan-2 lander, Vikram, attempted a landing September 7th Indian time (Friday the 6th in the United States), on a small patch of lunar highland smooth plains between Simpelius N and Manzinus C craters. Unfortunately the landing was not successful and location of the spacecraft has not been announced. The scene above was captured from an LROC Quickmap fly-around of the site, image width is about 150 kilometers across the center [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Published on 26 Sep 2019 Islands in the Dark Darkness surrounds illuminated peaks between Shackleton crater (rim crest at right) and de Gerlache crater (out of scene left). As lunar days and seasons progress, darkness creeps along this elevated ridge near the south pole. Image width 15 kilometers, NAC M1195011983LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Published on 20 May 2019 On the Rim! Spectacular oblique view of the rim of Shackleton crater (21 km diameter, 89.66°S, 129.20°E). While no location on the Moon stays continuously illuminated, three points on the rim remain collectively sunlit for more than 90% of the year. These points are surrounded by topographic depressions that never receive sunlight, creating cold traps that can capture ices, NAC M1224655261LR [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Published on 01 Feb 2018 Casting Light on Permanently Shadowed Regions The locations of south pole permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) with areas >10 km2. Images and information about each PSR can be found in the LROC PSR Atlas. [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University] Published on 26 Jan 2018 Polar Illumination Maps and More! New Reduced Data Records (RDRs) available as part of the 32nd Planetary Data System (PDS) release include two versions of the polar illumination maps for each pole. They include this time-weighted north pole illumination map that extends from 88ºN to the lunar north pole at 90ºN, as well as other new products. These maps show how much sunlight specific locations receive over the course of a lunar year. Areas that are nearly white are almost always in the sunlight, while black areas are Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs). [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Published on 12 Jan 2018 'Shaping' Lunar Science with Vector Data Twenty new shapefiles created by the LROC Team are now available! A few of the shapefiles shown here include mare age units, footprints of digital terrain models (DTMs), and the locations of small geologic features such as irregular mare patches (IMPs) and lobate scarps [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University]. Published on 18 Jul 2017 Prev 1 2 3 4 Next ← Previous Next → Displaying Post 1 - 10 of 37 in total
