Possibilities of lunar polar orbiter

Abstract

It appears very likely that early next century a lunar base and a manned outpost on Mars will be established through international collaboration to explore and utilize the Moon and Mars. In order to contribute to these projects, National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) has conducted the preliminary studies. As for the lunar projects, possibilities of a lunar polar orbiter (LPO), robotic rover, and sample return mission have been investigated. This paper describes the concept of the LPO based on the H-II rocket and earth observation technology of Japan. The LPO will map the global surface, especially the polar region and the farside of the Moon from 100 km lunar polar orbit and send the precise images of various wave length, acquired by onboard sensors to the Earth. The primary purpose of the LPO is to identify global and local structures of lunar resources and topography and to search for a suitable site for the lunar base.