Abstract
Abstract The Schrödinger basin on the south polar lunar far side has been highlighted as a promising target for future exploration. This report provides a high-resolution geologic map in the southwest peak-ring (SWPR) area of the Schrödinger basin, emphasizing structural features and detailed mapping of exposed outcrops within the peak ring. Outcrops are correlated with mineralogical data from the Moon Mineralogical Mapper instrument. Geologic mapping reveals a complex structural history within the basin through a system of radially oriented faults. Further, the geologic map shows both faulted and magmatic contacts between peak-ring mineralogies, providing both structural and magmatic context for understanding lunar crustal evolution and polar region processes. To investigate these relationships and address key scientific concepts and goals from the National Research Council (NRC) report, we propose three traverse paths for a robotic sample return mission in the SWPR area. These traverses focus on addressing the highest priority science concepts and goals by investigating known outcrops with diverse mineralogical associations and visible contacts among them. Coinciding with the preparation for the 2024 Artemis III mission, NASA is increasing the priority of robotic exploration at the lunar south pole before the next crewed mission to the Moon. Through mapping the Schrödinger SWPR, we identified the extent of different lunar crustal mineralogies, inferred their geologic relationships and distribution, and pinpointed traversable routes to sample spectrally diverse outcrops and outcrop-derived boulders. The SWPR region is therefore a promising potential target for future exploration, capable of addressing multiple high-priority lunar science goals.
Highlights
On the Moon, the Schrödinger basin is the second youngest impact basin residing within the oldest, the South Pole–Aitken basin (Figure 1)
The data come from multiple instruments and preexisting maps, including the Clementine Ultraviolet/ Visible camera (UVVIS; Bussey & Spudis 2004), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Wide-Angle Camera (WAC) and Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC; Robinson et al 2010), the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) (Smith et al 2010), the Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument (Nozette et al 2010), the Kaguya Spectral Profiles, M3 data (Green et al 2011), and geological maps created by Kramer et al (2013) and Kring et al (2016)
To determine if the southwest peak-ring (SWPR) area is a viable region for a traverse, a LOLA slope map (Figures A8, A9) with a resolution of 29.63 m pixel−1 was overlaid onto the mapped region in Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing (JMARS)
Summary
On the Moon, the Schrödinger basin is the second youngest impact basin residing within the oldest, the South Pole–Aitken basin (Figure 1). Three previous studies evaluated potential future landing sites in the central and southern regions of the Schrödinger basin, and two of the studies designed traverse paths for 14 day and 3–4 yr long missions (Figure 2; O’Sullivan et al 2011; Potts et al 2015; Steenstra et al 2016) These two missions use the NASA Orion spacecraft and HERACLES concept developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) to teleoperate a rover on the surface of the Moon in real time. We build upon the work of Kramer et al (2013) and Kring et al (2016) by mapping the spectrally and structurally diverse southwest peak-ring (SWPR) area (Figure 3) in greater detail at an outcrop scale (1:300,000) This mapped area contains four main spectral units and is used to design three possible human-assisted robotic traverse paths for a sample return mission, which are optimized for diverse sample collection within a single lunar day. While the mission will not likely be a sample return mission, the geology represented in the mapping here may help to refine options for that mission
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
