Recently Released Results From Mercury Mission MESSENGER Indicate Plentiful Deposits Of Water Ice At Its Poles 10-20cm Thick; Similar To Moon, Deposits Are Collected In Deep Impact Craters; UCLA Professor David Paige Says Studying Moon Poles Helped Researchers Develop Techniques To Research Water On Mercury; Findings Of Water On Harsh Environments Of Moon & Mercury Indicate Water Ice Is Common Component In Solar System / Universe
Image Credit: UCLA, NASA
Russia Federal Space Agency Announces Two Missions To The Moon: Luna-Globe Slated For 2015 Launch To Orbit Moon And Lunar-Resource Slated For 2017-8 Launch To Land On Lunar Surface; Luna-Globe Design Based On 2011 Lost Mars Craft Fobos-Grunt; Lunar-Resource Lander Will Study Soil Of Moon’s Southern Hemisphere Says Developer NPO Lavochkin; Next Mars Probe Attempt Not Till 2025 States Space Agency Chief Vladimir Popovkin
Image Credit: Roscosmos, NPO Lavochkin
ESA Preliminary System Requirement Review Puts €500M Price On 6 Month Mission To Place Rover / Other Experiments At Moon’s South Pole; Astrium Lunar Lander Study Phase B1 Major Results Include Precision Autonomous Soft Landing Test Results From TRON (Testbed For Robotic Optical Navigation) & LAMA (Landing And Mobility Test Facility); Nov ESA Ministerial Conference Decides Whether To Proceed With Study Phase B2 Leading To Preliminary Design Review
Image Credit: Astrium, ESA
Lunar COTS Petition Founded By Doug Plata Gaining Momentum As NASA Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Manager Alan Lindenmoyer (L) Suggests Using Successful COTS Model Elsewhere In NASA; Lunar COTS Would Establish Programs To Support Commercial Cis-lunar Transportation Service, Lunar Surface Operations, Harvesting Lunar Polar Ice, Orbital Propellant & Servicing Depots, Initial Crewed Lunar Base
Image Credit: NASA
Mini-RF Radar On LRO Estimates Maximum Amount Of Ice Likely Inside Shackleton Crater; 5-10% Of Material In Walls Of The Permanently-Shadowed Crater Could Be Patchy Ice According To Team Led By Bradley Thomson Of Boston University; Instrument Detects Distinctive Radar Polarization Signature Of Water Ice To Depth Of 2m Below Surface; Mini-RF Currently Acquiring New Bistatic Radar Images To Locate Volatile Deposits Using Arecibo Radio Telescope
Image Credit: NASA, bu.edu
Moon South Pole, With Water Ice In Permanently Shadowed Craters / Peaks Of Eternal Light, Is Likely Destination For Future Human Exploration / Settlement As Indicated By Spacecraft Impactors That Have Targeted The Area: USA Lunar Prospector 31 Jul 1999, India Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact Probe 14 Nov 2008, USA LCROSS 9 Oct 2009
Image Credit: NASA, ISRO
Up To 22% Ice In Shackleton Crater Surface Material According To LRO Laser Altimeter Data; LOLA Measured Albedo Of 3.2km-Deep, 19.3km-Wide Crater; New Map Shows 3B-Year-Old South Pole Crater Relatively Unscathed Since Formation, Brighter / Wetter Than Other Nearby Craters; Researchers Took Over 5M Measurements Of Permanently Shadowed Crater From Over 5K Orbital Tracks
Image Credit: NASA