2008 Joint Annual Meeting (5-9 Oct. 2008): A New Era of Scientific Exploration of the Moon

New missions to the Moon are being flown by several countries. These missions carry a variety of state-of-the-art sensors that will map the Moon from orbit at unprecedented levels of detail, in a wide range of wavelengths. We will obtain high-quality global topographic and geodetic information from the Japanese Kaguya, Indian Chandrayaan, and American Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions. The Chinese Chang'E mission carries both mapping instruments and a microwave radiometer that will determine the physical properties of the lunar regolith on a global basis. The Chandrayaan mission will map lunar surface mineralogical and chemical composition in detail. The LRO mission focuses on characterizing the environment and deposits of the poles of the Moon, including searching for the presence of volatile elements. Both Chandrayaan and LRO will carry a synthetic aperture imaging radar (Mini-RF) that will map the permanently dark areas of both poles and search for water ice. These new global data will permit us to better understand the processes and geological evolution of the Moon and support the advanced exploration of the lunar surface by both people and machines that is to follow in the next decade.