Detailed Characterization of Shackleton Crater

NASA Lunar Science Institute: Constraints on the volatile distribution within Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole NLSI recently reported that NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft had returned data that indicated ice may make up as much as 22 percent of the surface material in Shackleton crater. Here we report in more detail on the paper by NLSI’s Brown/MIT team, Zuber et al. (2012). Constraints on the volatile distribution within Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole. Nature, 486, 378­381. Shackleton crater is nearly coincident with the Moon’s south pole. Its interior receives almost no direct sunlight and is a perennial cold trap, making Shackleton a promising candidate location in which to seek sequestered volatiles. However, previous orbital and Earth-based radar mapping and orbital optical imaging have yielded conflicting interpretations about the existence of volatiles. This paper presents observations from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, revealing Shackleton to be an ancient, unusually well-preserved simple crater whose interior walls are fresher than its floor and rim. Shackleton floor deposits are nearly the same age as the rim, suggesting that little floor deposition has occurred since the crater formed more than three billion years ago. ...