Article
Engineering, Aerospace
James D. Cole, Sungwoo Lim, Hannah M. Sargeant, Simon Sheridan, Mahesh Anand, Andrew Morse
Summary: Identifying the best technique for extracting water ice deposits in lunar polar regions is crucial for future scientific and technology missions. This study used low-power microwave heating to extract water from lunar simulants. The efficiency of water extraction was found to be influenced by the porosity of the simulants, with higher efficiency observed in highland simulants. Chemical composition had negligible effects on water extraction. Low-power microwave heating was an effective technique, but less efficient for saturated samples.
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Jacob L. Kloos, John E. Moores, Paul J. Godin, Ed Cloutis
Summary: Permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar poles are exposed to faint sources of radiation such as starlight and scattered sunlight, with large spatial heterogeneities in the scattered solar flux within individual craters. The study shows that the rate of photodesorption for water molecules in PSRs fluctuates due to diurnal, seasonal, and geographical variability of incoming solar flux.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tianxi Sun
Summary: This article points out the presence of methanol and hydrogen ice on the Moon, and emphasizes the need to re-investigate water ice within lunar polar craters. It also explains the chemical reactions between interstellar methanol ice and lunar carbon-rich regolith that produce molecular hydrogen, and elucidates the mechanism of hydrogen ice formation. The author suggests that hydrogen ice within lunar polar craters can serve as a fuel base for interplanetary flight.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Norbert Schorghofer, Raluca Rufu
Summary: As the Moon moved away from Earth, its spin axis underwent a significant reorientation, resulting in the formation and expansion of permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). Using recent advancements in the understanding of Earth-Moon distance evolution, we calculated the orientation of the lunar spin axis and the extent of PSRs. The PSR area reached its maximum size 2.1 billion years ago and became negligible beyond 3.4 billion years ago. Cold-trapping of volatiles has continued into a relatively recent time period.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shanti M. Garman, Melissa C. Roth, Vincent G. Roux, Joshua R. Smith
Summary: Wireless power transfer using magnetically coupled resonators is being tested with lunar simulants and iron powder samples. The presence of metallic iron and its particle size are found to be critical factors affecting the coupling of the magnetic field with the lunar simulants and iron powder samples. The importance of particle size-to-skin depth ratio is discussed, and attenuation constants for various iron powders are estimated and compared to those of lunar regolith and simulants.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Quantum Science & Technology
Mehri Sadat Ebrahimi, Stefano Zippilli, David Vitali
Summary: This article introduces a simple feedback scheme that allows efficient operation of a microwave-quantum-illumination device based on electro-optomechanical systems, even in regimes with excessive dissipation, surpassing the optimal classical illumination protocol with the same transmitted energy.
QUANTUM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Tyler Horvath, Paul O. Hayne, David A. Paige
Summary: Lunar collapse pits exhibit elevated thermal emission during the night, indicating they may provide access to subsurface lava tubes. Utilizing Diviner Lunar Radiometer measurements and computational models, the thermal environment inside pits and potential caves has been characterized.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Optics
Cheng-Zhang Du, Da-Wei Wang, Cheng-Song Zhao, Junya Yang, Ling Zhou
Summary: Quantum illumination is a quantum optical sensing technique that uses an entangled source to detect low-reflectivity objects in a bright thermal background. The hybrid cavity-optomagnonics system, using a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere that couples to microwave and optical fields, shows potential as a quantum illumination platform. This study proposes a scheme to enhance the entanglement between the output fields of the microwave and optical cavities by considering the intrinsic Kerr nonlinearity of the YIG. The results demonstrate that the large value of Kerr nonlinearity may improve entanglement, while the optomagnonical parametric-type coupling does not necessarily lead to larger entanglement.
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
M. Litvak, T. Kozlova, A. Ilyin, A. Kiselev, A. Kozyrev, I. Mitrofanov, V. Tretyakov, V. Yakovlev
Summary: The lunar lander developed by Russia for the Luna - 25 mission is equipped with a versatile robotic arm designed for contact operations with lunar regolith. The arm can excavate the regolith, collect samples, and analyze their composition. Ground tests simulating lunar conditions were conducted, demonstrating the arm's ability to excavate trenches and collect samples in an ice-rich analog of lunar regolith with a water ice concentration of 1.5 wt %.
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Prasun Mahanti, Tyler J. Thompson, Mark S. Robinson, David C. Humm
Summary: This letter describes a method for synthesizing images at PSRs based on the knowledge of incident solar illumination geometry and local topography that reflects light into PSRs.
IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Sang-Moo Lee, Walter N. Meier, Byung-Ju Sohn, Hoyeon Shi, Albin J. Gasiewski
Summary: A new method has been developed to retrieve Arctic basin-scale ice thickness from satellite passive microwave measurements, showing a strong linear relationship with measurements from CryoSat-2. The study reveals a decreasing trend in ice freeboard over time and changes in ice freeboard distribution in the Arctic.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tian R. Tian, Alexander D. Fraser, Thomas Lavergne, Sonya L. Fiddes, Chen Zhao, Petra Heil
Summary: Sea ice kinematics has significant impacts on the global ocean-atmosphere system, affecting albedo, ice cover, heat transmission, and ice thickness distribution. A new ice motion product called S2S shows promise in representing ice drift trajectories, but its application in ice kinematics research is yet to be explored. This study investigates Antarctic sea ice differential kinematic parameters using the S2S ice motion product and compares them with parameters derived from daily maps. The results indicate a strong correlation between S2S-derived parameters and time scale, as well as a relationship with ice thickness, suggesting the potential for proxy measurements of ice thickness.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Norbert Schorghofer
Summary: This study models the migration of water molecules in the porous lunar soil and finds significant water sequestration at certain depths. The model predicts the formation of a hydrated layer and a desiccated layer at specific sites. The results help explain the presence of excess hydrogen concentrations outside of cold traps and the observed desiccated layer above a hydrogenous layer.
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jong -Min Kim, Sang -Woo Kim, Byung-Ju Sohn, Hyun-Cheol Kim, Sang-Moo Lee, Young-Joo Kwon, Hoyeon Shi, Andrey V. Pnyushkov
Summary: A method was developed to estimate pan-Arctic ice draft using spaceborne passive microwave measured brightness temperatures. The method was validated using upward-looking sonar measurements and ice mass balance buoy measurements. The results showed good agreement between the estimated ice draft and the measurements, suggesting the robustness of the estimation method.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Zhen Zhong, Jianguo Yan, Huaiyu He, Qiling Wen, Deyun Liu, Jean-Pierre Barriot
Summary: This study focuses on the illumination and temperature at China's next lunar candidate landing site, Shackleton crater. The researchers used NASA's SPICE system to evaluate the terrain obscuration effect on real-time illumination and found that the resulting illumination map resembles previous studies. They also estimated an accumulated illumination map for rover movement and concluded that the rover will likely receive solar radiation during its movement. The study also evaluated the regolith temperature for more than 20 years and found that the temperature in the permanent shadow region remains constant, indicating the stability of the estimated initial temperature.
SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
(2023)