Skip to content

DN-003 L: High-resolution, time-resolved thermal mapping of lunar south pole exploration regions and sites

Repeated thermal imaging of South Pole regions at better than 50 m (30 m preferred), to resolve PSR temperatures, day–night and seasonal cycles and surface heat flux for the thermal and power design of surface elements, cables included. The current source is LRO's Diviner radiometer, whose polar maps are 240 m/pixel. It is named in the Moon Base Users Guide (near-term), under the "Securing sites" challenge (Data gaps spreadsheet, DN-003 L; Users Guide, p. 12).

Quotations below are from row DN-003 L of the data gaps spreadsheet unless marked otherwise. ADD Rev C's Appendix E prints the same record as a table, and it matches the row field for field (ADD Rev C, p. 267).

Description

"Capture multispectral thermal imagery to determine surface temperature profiles of lunar south pole areas of interest. Areas should be imaged multiple times to track how surface temperature changes with time and illumination conditions. Resolution should be improved compared to currently available data. High resolution thermal maps are needed over all Artemis regions for design of element thermal control systems and power systems (including power cables)."

Need driver and data type

  • Need driver: Lunar Exploration Surface Site Characterization
  • Data type: Remote Sensing

Target measurement parameters

"Acquire higher resolution (<50m, <30m preferred) thermal imaging of lunar south pole exploration regions to resolve PSR temperatures, diurnal/seasonal cycles, and surface heat fluxes at the scale needed for element thermal design and traverse planning."

Current state of data

"Currently available thermal imagery is sourced from the LRO Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment. Diviner data has been used to create a variety of temperature maps including maximum temperature anomaly (global), minimum temperature anomaly (global), south polar thermal maps, and north polar thermal maps. Cylindrical maps are provided at resolutions of 128, 64, 16, 4, and 1 pixel/degree (PPD) and polar stereographic maps are provided at a single resolution of 126.347 PPD (map scale of 240 m/pixel). Data is constrained to brightness temperature values between 10 to 450 K (anything outside that range is considered "bad" data). LRO has the state of the art of data in terms of thermal maps. This data is limited due to 240m/pixel and a coarse temporal frequency of 2 hour for some locations to 2 weeks."

Impact if data is unavailable

"Present model surface and temporal resolution could be enhanced to mitigate risks to long term emplacements required to survive yearly thermal cycles."

Benefits if data is available

"A prior acquisition of higher-resolution thermal maps (surface heat fluxes and temperatures) and the ability to predict the required thermal design requirements over the entire year's summer and winter cycles. Such information will permit proper thermal and power system design to assure continuity of services. Such data can be used in selection of hibernation sites, lander sites/ellipses and mobility traverses."

Traceability

  • Objectives: SE-05 LM, AS-01 LM, TH-03 L (codes as printed; the sheet gives no titles)
  • Segment: Human Lunar Return (HLR): "The M2M segment during which the data is needed, but not necessarily when it is collected" (Data gaps spreadsheet, Key sheet). A segment is not a Moon Base phase.

Priority

None. The spreadsheet has no priority field, and the Users Guide calls the data-gap list "not comprehensive or prioritized" (Users Guide, p. 11).

Moon Base relevance

The Users Guide names DN-003 L for one associated challenge (Users Guide, p. 12):

  • "Securing sites": "Identifying, selecting, and landing at individual sites requires more data about the lunar surface, including regolith properties, high-resolution imagery, mapping, and resource locations." Also cited: DN-001 L, DN-002 L, DN-004 L to DN-010 L, DN-013 L and DN-014 L. No tech gap.

The guide ties its challenges to "near-term Moon Base development efforts": missions in phase one "offer opportunities to collect data and mature technologies to enable essential phase two and phase three capabilities" (p. 11). See Technology and knowledge challenges. The sources disagree on how cold PSRs get; see Environment and open question 3.

Sources

Data gaps spreadsheet, DN-003 L · Users Guide, pp. 11–12 · ADD Rev C, p. 267