The Edge Of Luna Incognita By SMART-1

MOON DAILY

This image, taken by the advanced Moon Imaging Experiment (AMIE) on board ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, shows crater Plaskett on the Moon. This image was taken by SMART-1 from its polar orbit, at an altitude of 3000 kilometres over the surface and with a ground resolution of 300 metres per pixel. Plaskett crater sits at 82.1 North and 174 East, with its centre just 240 kilometres away from the lunar north pole. The crater, 109 kilometres across, is named after the Canadian astronomer John Stanley Plaskett (1865-1941). Credits: ESA/Space-X (Space Exploration Institute)

by Staff Writers
Paris, France (ESA) Mar 06, 2007
SMART-1 has investigated lunar areas at the edge of Luna Incognita. This area near the lunar poles can be used for lunar science studies, or even to prepare for human bases on the Moon and on Mars. Mankind did not see the land called Luna Incognita, until the first probes sent images of the lunar farside.

Plaskett crater sits close to the Moon's north pole, on the edge of Luna Incognita. Plaskett has a diameter of 109 kilometres and displays a central peak. This peak was formed during the crater's formation and is composed of rocks, originally from beneath the Moon's surface, which were melted and thrown up by the impact.

As they rose above the surface they 'froze' and formed the peak. By analysing such central peaks, planetary scientists can deduce the vertical composition of the Moon's subsurface regions.

Plaskett crater could play a key role in preparing humans for their eventual journeys to Mars. On such a mission, Earth would dwindle to a point and the astronauts would lose the familiar view of their home planet.

From the lunar near side the Earth is a brilliant object, four times wider than the full Moon seen from Earth. The Earth seems to wobble in the sky due to a lunar motion called libration. From the lunar poles libration takes the Earth below the horizon for about half the month.

From Plaskett, on the far side of the Moon, the Earth can only be seen from the crater's northern rim for just a few days during a few months every year.

"A human outpost there, on the edge of Luna Incognita, would allow us to study the effects of Earth-deprivation on a crew in a controlled way," says Bernard Foing, SMART-1's Project Scientist.

"It will allow us to simulate Mars operations and isolation, on the Moon, at a safe distance from a human base at the north pole."

Launched in September 2003, SMART-1 ended its mission through lunar impact on 3 September 2006. The huge data sets it provided are and will be analysed by lunar and planetary scientists, and provide a very important legacy in the history of lunar exploration.

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MOON DAILY

China To Launch Lunar Satellite Probe This Year

Beijing (AFP) March 6, 2007
China will launch its first lunar probe this year and the nation's fledgling space programme will have the ability to land a man on the moon within 15 years, state press reported Tuesday. The "Chang'e I" lunar probe will be launched later this year aboard a Long March 3-A carrier rocket, Huang Chunping, the former head of rocket science at China's manned space programme, told Xinhua news agency.

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