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DN-006 L: Orbital observations of water ice deposits in the south polar region

Regional maps, from orbit, of where water ice is and how much, at better than 10 km (5 km preferred), down to 1 m and sensitive to 1 wt%. The four existing data sets (LCROSS, Chandrayaan-1, LRO, Lunar Prospector) "are insufficient to characterize bulk water ice concentrations for the purpose of resource utilization". Orbital maps are meant to pair with the ground truth of DN-007 L. It is named in the Moon Base Users Guide (near-term), under two challenges, "Securing sites" and "ISRU systems" (Data gaps spreadsheet, DN-006 L; Users Guide, pp. 12–13).

Quotations below are from row DN-006 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. 270).

Description

"Measure the horizontal distribution and abundance of water ice at a regional scale at the lunar south pole. Spatial resolution should be sufficient to resolve permanently shadowed craters."

Need driver and data type

  • Need driver: Lunar Resource Exploration
  • Data type: Remote Sensing

Target measurement parameters

"Water spatial resolution of <10 km (<5 km preferred) to a depth of 1 m, coverage <15° from poles, sensitivity at least 1 wt%."

Current state of data

"There are four existing orbital data sets that indicate the presence of shallow bulk water on the lunar surface: LCROSS, Chandrayaan-1, LRO, and Lunar Prospector. There are more data sets for surface frost detection; however, while surface frost may be a geologic indicator of deeper water, there is currently no strong correlation between the two types of data sets. Water equivalent hydrogen (WEH), inferred from neutron spectroscopy, cannot give accurate concentration or depth distribution data. Neutron flux indicates there is hydrogen somewhere between the surface layer down to about 80 cm to 100 cm. Resolutions from current data sets are insufficient to characterize bulk water ice concentrations for the purpose of resource utilization."

Impact if data is unavailable

"Knowledge of water distribution and abundance will be constrained to limited existing data sets which do not sufficiently identify potential water ice reserve sites for potential utilization."

Benefits if data is available

"Orbital measurements typically have larger coverage area than expected mobility ranges of landed missions and can be used with ground measurements to create a predictive model to locate potential water reserve sites."

Traceability

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-006 L for two associated challenges (Users Guide, pp. 12–13):

  • "Securing sites" (p. 12): "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 to DN-005 L, DN-007 L to DN-010 L, DN-013 L and DN-014 L. No tech gap.
  • "ISRU systems" (p. 13): "Using local lunar resources to enable exploration requires both detailed knowledge of resource availability and systems to extract and process those resources." Also cited: data gap DN-007 L and tech gaps #0601, #0603, #0604 and #0605.

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.

Sources

Data gaps spreadsheet, DN-006 L · Users Guide, pp. 11–13 · 2025 Architecture Update, p. 14 · ADD Rev C, pp. 202, 270