Near-infrared spectral characteristics and composition analysis of impact craters near the Chang’E-5 landing site
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Deep space exploration is an important way for mankind to innovate space science and technology, and to promote the development and utilization of space resources. Remote sensing technology plays an extremely important role in these exploration missions. Visible and near infrared reflectance spectra are the effective means to study the composition of celestial objects. The Chang'E-5 (CE-5) lunar exploration mission has achieved China's first sample return from the moon, helping scientific research on the origin and evolution of the moon. The landing areas of CE-5 and Apollo 12 were located in the north and south of the Oceanus Procellarum, respectively. In this paper, the spectral data of the craters near the CE- 5 landing site and the similar Apollo 12 lunar rock (12063) spectrum with its mineral composition are compared and analyzed. The band area ratio method and the modified Gaussian model method were applied to study the spectral characteristics and mineral composition of these craters and rocks. The chemical compositions and evolutionary trends of major constituent minerals are consistent with the basalts returned by the Apollo missions. The spectral deconvolution results indicate that the mafic minerals in the crater rocks near the CE-5 landing site are dominated by clinopyroxene, followed by orthopyroxene and olivine, which is significantly lower than the orthopyroxene mineral abundance in the Apollo 12063 lunar rock. It may indicate that the young basalts of CE-5 landing area originate from the lunar mantle source region, which is rich in clinopyroxene and contains a small amount of olivine material. Remote sensing and space exploration help us solve many meaningful scientific problems. In general, remote sensing is an important and useful, even the only, means for us to understand the solar system and extrasolar celestial bodies.Keywords:
Lunar craters
Lunar mare
Regolith
Planetary science
Topics discussed include basaltic studies, planetary differentiation (e.g., lunar highland rocks), and remote sensing studies of chemical composition, mineralogic composition, and physical surface properties. Particular attention is given to the petrology and chemistry of basaltic fragments from the Apollo 11 soil; a model of early lunar differentiation; rocks of the early lunar crust; refractory and moderately volatile element abundances in the earth, moon, and meteorites; the effects of overlapping optical absorption bands of pyroxene and glass on the reflectance spectra of lunar soils; and the characterization of Martian surface materials from earth-based radar.
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Solar system processes are considered along with the origin and evolution of the moon, planetary geophysics, lunar basins and crustal layering, lunar magnetism, the lunar surface as a planetary probe, remote observations of lunar and planetary surfaces, earth-based measurements, integrated studies, physical properties of lunar materials, and asteroids, meteorites, and the early solar system. Attention is also given to studies of mare basalts, the kinetics of basalt crystallization, topical studies of mare basalts, highland rocks, experimental studies of highland rocks, geochemical studies of highland rocks, studies of materials of KREEP composition, a consortium study of lunar breccia 73215, topical studies on highland rocks, Venus, and regional studies of the moon. Studies of surface processes, are reported, taking into account cratering mechanics and fresh crater morphology, crater statistics and surface dating, effects of exposure and gardening, and the chemistry of surfaces.
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Abundance and isotopic data are presented for a suite of 19 soils from the Apollo 16 mission. It is concluded that the S systematics of the lunar regolith support a model in which S from a number of indigenous rock types is mixed with a time-dependent, extralunar component of probably meteoritic origin. This mixture is processed on the lunar surface by a time-dependent mechanism which removes S-32 enriched S from the moon, enriching the residue in S-34. The loss of S by this mechanism approximately equals the meteoritic input, producing the apparent coincidence between rock abundances and abundances in soils which has led to adoption of simplified mixing models. In reality, at least for the Apollo 16 site, addition of meteoritic S slightly outweighs loss from the moon, resulting in a positive trend.
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We examine data obtained by the Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) onboard the Chang'E-4 (CE-4) mission to study the dielectric properties and stratigraphy of lunar regolith on the far side of the Moon. The data collected from January 2019 to September 2020 were processed to generate a 540 m radargram. The travel velocity of the radar signal and the permittivity of the regolith were deduced from hyperbolas in the radargram. As CE-4 LPR detected distinct planar reflectors, we evaluated the dielectric loss from the maximum penetration depth based on the radar equation. The derived dielectric properties are compared with the measurements of Apollo samples and Chang'E-2 microwave radiometer observations. The results suggest that regolith at the landing site has a permittivity of 2.64-3.85 and a loss tangent of 0.0032-0.0044, indicating that the local regolith is composed of a fine-grained, low-loss material that is much more homogeneous than that found at the Chang'E-3 landing site. The total thickness of weathered material is 40 m, with several regolith layers and a buried craternidentified in the reconstructed subsurface structure. These layers clearly record a series of impact events from the adjacent regions. We suggest that the top layer is primarily made up of the ejecta from a large crater 140 km away. In contrast, the material source of other thinner layers comes from nearby smaller craters.
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Robotic missions could soon explore permanently shadowed craters on the lunar poles in order to characterize ice accumulation beneath the surface. However, the regolith in these craters is hypothesized to be very loose and could endanger a rover mission. This work analyzes the ability of thermal imaging to detect hazardous, low-density regolith in shadowed regions on the lunar poles. A series of simulations was conducted to estimate the surface temperature of lunar regolith as a function of density in polar craters. A generalized lunar crater model was used, and thermal properties of regolith were taken from experiments on Apollo samples. Results showed that in most situations there is a difference in temperature between nominal and loose regolith samples. This effect is most consistent at night in the absence of solar radiation and generally causes temperature differences between 2 K and 3 K. Based on comparisons to the capabilities of the DIVINER lunar radiometer, it is likely that regolith density differences would be detectable by a rover-mounted instrument.
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Telescopic reflectance spectra (0.3-1.1 microns) of fresh craters are presented and classified according to the spectral features observed. These spectra are the closest lunar surface analog to laboratory spectra obtained for lunar rock powders. Mineral absorption features can be identified in these crater spectra and interpreted using returned lunar samples. Spectra of craters to 2.5 microns are required for specific mineralogical determinations from remote observation. If the currently available telescopic spectra are representative, classification of lunar telescopic spectra indicates that most (more than 80%) of the lunar surface is composed of a finite number of discrete and describable geochemical units.
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The papers consider the origin and evolution of the lunar regolith utilizing data obtained during American and Soviet manned and unmanned lunar missions as well as surface and orbital observations, photography, sample collections, and experimental studies. Topics include the transport and emplacement of crater and basin deposits, development of the mare regolith, the shallow lunar structure as determined from the passive seismic experiment, horizontal transport of the regolith, the origin of the exotic component and KREEP-rich materials, the influx of interplanetary materials onto the moon, stratification in the lunar regolith, catastrophic rupture of lunar rocks, cosmic-ray exposure ages of surface features, breccia formation by sintering and crystallization, evolution of the lunar soil, and effects of maturation on the reflectance of the regolith. Individual items are announced in this issue.
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Abstract Accurate assessments of surface temperatures on the Moon are important for understanding the physical properties of the lunar surface regolith and thermal effects on the reflectance spectra beyond 2 μm. The local time resolved spectral measurements of the same region were used to estimate the surface temperature at the Chang'E‐4 landing site. The results show that the surface temperatures at the landing site at lunar local time 14:28–14:41 are 346 ± 8 K. The spectral absorptions at ∼2 μm of the lunar surface are overestimated without sufficient thermal removal, and consequently may have resulted in overestimation of pyroxene and/or glasses at the landing site. The results play a foundation for correcting thermal effects of reflectance data that will be acquired by Chang'E‐5 and ‐6 and possible other future Chang'E missions.
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