The surface of the lunar pole ‘Shackleton Crater’ captured in high resolution by the Shadow Cam developed by NASA. The arrow marks the trail of rocks that have rolled down the crater wall. Provided by NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which is promoting a manned lunar landing, recently released images of various terrains of the lunar poles taken by the Shadow Cam loaded on the Korean Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) Danuri to search for lunar landing sites.
NASA said, “Since Danuri entered lunar orbit in December of last year, Shadow Cam has provided a lot of information about the lunar poles.” The shadow cam is a device that can take pictures of the moon’s permanent shadow zone, which does not receive direct sunlight, using reflected light from surrounding planets. NASA’s Shadow Cam, which captured the lunar pole this time, is the only foreign equipment among the Danuri payloads. The photos released by NASA include various topography of the lunar poles that have not been observed before. The inner walls and bottom of Shackleton Crater, very close to the lunar south pole, can be seen in the sharpest resolution ever. It is explained that it helps to estimate the characteristics of rocks and soil that exist on the moon.
Another image revealed traces of soil runoff inside ‘Bruce Crater’ near the lunar equator. This area is a sunny area, but the shooting was done to verify the sensitivity of the shadow cam. The edge of ‘Marvin Crater’, located in the permanent shadow zone just 26 km from the south pole of the moon, was also confirmed. The difference between the sunlight hitting the outside and the inside was vividly captured.
There are also pictures taken using the reflected light of the Earth without using the sunlight reflected by the moon. The photo, which revealed the peak of ‘Aristarchus Crater’ in the lunar flat area, was captured using light reflected from the Earth. Various types of rocks were identified in the image, taken of the peak when Earth was positioned 35 degrees above the lunar horizon.
Donga Science Reporter Park Jeong-yeon hesse@donga.com
