Related papers: Tall Towers on the Moon
The Curiosity rover recently detected a background of 0.7 ppb and spikes of 7 ppb of methane on Mars. This in situ measurement reorients our understanding of the Martian environment and its potential for life, as the current theories do not…
From analytical studies of tidal heating, eclipses and planetary illumination, it is clear that the exomoon habitable zone (EHZ) - the set of moon and host planet orbits that permit liquid water on an Earthlike moon's surface - is a…
Diagenetic concretions have been identified at multiple widely separated sites on Mars, including Meridiani Planum (Opportunity), Gale crater (Curiosity), and Jezero crater (Perseverance). Solid concretions at all sites fall within the…
Water has been identified as a critical resource both to sustain human-life but also for use in propulsion, attitude-control, power, thermal and radiation pro-tection systems. Water may be obtained off-world through In-Situ Resource…
Cosmic rays bombard the lunar surface producing mesons, which attenuate inside the regolith. They get slower and decay weakly into mostly sub-GeV neutrinos leaving the surface. Thus the Moon shines in neutrinos. Here we calculate spectra of…
Lunar hematite is formed by the oxidation of iron on the surface of the Moon by oxygen from the Earth's upper atmosphere. The Moon's surface is continuously affected by solar particles from the sun. However, Earth's magnetic tail blocks 99…
While solar power systems have offered a wide variety of electricity generation approaches including photovoltaics, solar thermal power systems, and solar thermoelectric generators, the ability of generating electricity at both the daytime…
Lunar explorations have provided us with information about its abundant resources that can be utilized in orbiting-resource depots as lunar-derived commodities. To reduce the energy requirements of a launcher to send these commodities from…
The frequently discovered flooding structure on Mars and other planets has long been an intriguing mystery remained un-disclosed so far. Considering that on Earth, quite a few low melting point liquid metals or their alloy can be candidates…
The lunar surface has historically been considered an optimal site for a broad range of astronomical telescopes. That assumption, which has come to be somewhat reflexive, is critically examined in this paper and found to be poorly…
Radio detection of Ultra High Energetic Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos (UHECRv) which hit the Moon has been investigated in recent years. In preparation for near-future lunar science missions, we discuss technical requirements for radio…
The Moon exhibits striking geological asymmetries in elevation, crustal thickness, and composition between its nearside and farside. Although several scenarios have been proposed to explain these asymmetries, their origin remains debated.…
Permanent lunar settlements will rely on in situ oxygen production from regolith for life support and propulsion. While oxygen is abundant in lunar materials, it is chemically bound within metal oxides whose extractability depends strongly…
This article describes the characterization activities of the landing sites currently envisaged for the Lunar Lander mission of the European Space Agency. These sites have been identified in the South Pole Region (-85{\deg} to -90{\deg}…
A new analysis of extended data records collected with the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) technique performed with improved tidal models was not able to resolve the issue of the anomalous rate $\dot e$ of the eccentricity $e$ of the orbit of the…
Like many airless planetary surfaces, the surface of the Moon is scattered by populations of blocks and smaller boulders. These features decrease in abundance with increasing exposure time due to comminution by impact bombardment and…
The diversity and quantity of moons in the Solar System suggest a manifold population of natural satellites exist around extrasolar planets. Of peculiar interest from an astrobiological perspective, the number of sizable moons in the…
The leading hypothesis for the origin of the Moon, that of a single giant impact, faces significant challenges. These include either the need for an impactor with a near-identical composition to Earth or an extremely high-mass or…
Most of Mars' ancient sedimentary rocks by volume are in wind-eroded sedimentary mounds, but the connections between mound form and wind erosion are unclear. We perform mesoscale simulations of different crater and mound morphologies to…
Geophysical imaging of the lunar near-surface structure will be key for in situ resource utilization, identification of hazards for crews and infrastructure, and answering science questions on the formation and interior of the Moon. The…