Dark (in)side of the moon: Orbiting radar illuminates previously unseen crater interiors

[Mousehound]

http://www.sciam.com/media/inline/blog/Image/301588main_2009_0108_south_polar_med.jpg
A NASA instrument aboard the moon-orbiting Indian satellite Chandrayaan-1 has provided the first glimpses inside shadowy lunar craters. The instrument, known as Mini-SAR, used radar soundings to map the floors of polar craters that are continually hidden from view.

These dark, cold pockets are possible havens for water ice, which Mini-SAR will try to spot from its orbiting perch 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface. The radar will also map both of the moon's polar regions during the two-year Chandrayaan-1 mission.

At left, Mini-SAR data (diagonal strip) details the bottom of Haworth crater, near the moon's south pole.

Photo credit: ISRO/NASA/JHUAPL/LPI/Cornell University/Smithsonian
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=dark-inside-of-the-moon-orbiting-ra-2009-01-16

[Sysiphus]

Is that the Monolith in the foreground?

[Mousehound]

Is that the Monolith in the foreground?

At left, Mini-SAR data (diagonal strip) details the bottom of Haworth crater, near the moon's south pole.;)

[Auburn Boy]

Mini-SAR:

Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar.

http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/payloads/minisar.html

The mini-SAR system will transmit Right Circular Polarization (RCP) and receive both Left Circular Polarization (LCP) and RCP. In scatterometer mode, the system will measure the RCP and LCP response in the altimetry footprint along the nadir ground-track. In radiometer mode, the system will measure the surface RF emissivity, allowing a determination of the near normal incidence Fresnel reflectivity.

The synthetic aperture radar system works at a frequency 2.38 GHz with a resolution of 75m per pixel and weighs 6.5kg.

Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) is from Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University and Naval Air Warfare Centre, USA through NASA.

[Auburn Boy]

For more information see the NASA website:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mini-RF/news/2009-01-16_radar_first_look.html