Lunar Impact Melt Deposit Stratigraphy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Lunar Data Analysis Program
External Partners
- John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Project Description
When did the largest basins on the Moon form? Our team uses high-resolution LROC data to identify and map occurrences of impact melt in the Moon's largest basins. In addition to creating some of the highest-resolution geologic maps of these areas on the Moon, our results will also inform future landing and sampling sites. Future lunar surface exploration can radiometrically determine the ages of these impact melt deposits and slowly piece together the violent first billion years of the Moon's history. And the real zinger? The Moon's early history is a proxy record for our own Earth's early history, which has been obliterated. Our team is at PSI, Johns Hopkins APL, the University of Muenster (Germany), NASA/Goddard, the University of Maryland, the Brown University.
