NASA Views Landing Site Through Eyes of Future Moon Crew

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DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Stephanie Schierholz/Beth Dickey 202-358-4997/2087
NASA Headquarters, Washington
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov, beth.dickey-1@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-034 Feb. 27, 2008

NASA Views Landing Site Through Eyes of Future Moon Crew

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA has obtained the highest resolution terrain mapping to date of the
moon's rugged south polar region, with a resolution to 20 meters (66 feet) per pixel. Scientists at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., collected the data using the Deep Space
Network's Goldstone Solar System Radar located in California's Mojave Desert. The imagery
generated by the data has been incorporated into animation depicting the descent to the lunar
surface of a future human lunar lander and a flyover of Shackleton Crater.

The mapping data collected indicate that the region of the moon's south pole near Shackleton
Crater is much more rugged than previously understood. The Shackleton rim area is considered a
candidate landing site for a future human mission to the moon.

"The south pole of the moon certainly would be a beautiful place to explore," said Doug Cooke,
deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA
Headquarters, Washington. "We now know the south pole has peaks as high as Mt. McKinley
and crater floors four times deeper than the Grand Canyon. There are challenges that come with
such rugged terrain, and these data will be an invaluable tool for advance planning of lunar
missions."

Three times during a six-month period in 2006, scientists targeted the moon's south polar region
using Goldstone's 70-meter (230-foot) radar dish. The antenna, three-quarters the size of a
football field, sent a 500-kilowatt-strong, 90-minute-long radar stream 373,046 kilometers
(231,800 miles) to the moon. The radar bounced off the rough-hewn lunar terrain over an area
measuring about 644 kilometers by 402 kilometers (400 miles by 250 miles). Signals were
reflected back to two of Goldstone's 34-meter (112-foot) antennas on Earth. The roundtrip time,
from the antenna to the moon and back, was about two-and-a-half seconds.

"I have not been to the moon, but this imagery is the next best thing," said Scott Hensley, a
scientist at JPL and lead investigator for the study. "With these data we can see terrain features as
small as a house without even leaving the office."

Previously, the best resolution of the moon's south pole was generated by the Clementine
spacecraft, which could resolve lunar terrain features near the south pole at 1 kilometer (0.6
miles) per pixel. The new resolution generated by JPL is 50 times more detailed.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will provide the next generation of lunar imaging and
data. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in late 2008. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Camera will retrieve high-resolution images of the moon's surface and lunar poles with
resolutions to 1 meter (3.3 feet). These images will provide knowledge of polar illumination
conditions, identify potential resources and hazards, and enable safe landing site selection. Other
instruments aboard the orbiter will return data such as temperature maps, ultraviolet images,
characterization of radiation on the moon and a high-resolution 3-D map. NASA's quest for up-
to-date imagery of the moon also will benefit from international missions such as Japan's Selene
robotic probe.

Funding for the program was provided by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

To view animation, terrain maps of the moon's south pole and images from this story, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/022708.html .

Video animation developed from the high-resolution imaging also will air on NASA Television.
For NASA TV downlink and schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .

JPL manages the Goldstone Solar System Radar and the Deep Space Network for NASA. To
learn more about them, visit: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn .

For information about NASA's exploration program to return humans to the moon, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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