Lunar Prospector searches for polar ice, a metallic core, gas release events, and the Moon's origin

Abstract

Lunar Prospector, the third mission in the “faster, better, cheaper” NASA Discovery Program, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on January 6, 1998 (see http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov). Lunar Prospector is now in lunar orbit and is the second Discovery spacecraft to visit a major planetary body in less than a year. Its scientific goals are to map the Moon's surface composition, with special emphasis on the search for polar ice deposits, and its magnetic and gravity fields and determination of the frequency and locations of gas release events. These data will provide a basis for better understanding the current state and resources of the Moon, as well as for further constraints on its origin and evolution.