月球仍然活跃的构造、火成和内部特征等证据（英文）

月球尽管被作为类地行星演化的最终形态的代表,被认为在25亿年前已经完全冷却,根据阿波罗时代以来、特别是近十余年的月球轨道器和着陆器获得的关于月球构造、火成活动、月震和内部结构等多种证据,表明月球从深层内部到表面仍然活跃,尚未彻底冷却"死亡"。这将完全改变人们关于月球演化历史和状态的观念。     

月球起源的秘密

几乎每个天体都把自己异常的一面展示给了我们,NASA主要行星学家之一的大卫·莫里逊说,月球考察充分地证明了这一点。早在人类首次登上月球的“阿波罗11”号飞行前,就已存在三种互相对立的月球起源理论,这就是“姐妹论”、“母女论”和“俘获论”:按照第一种理论,地球和月球是各自演化而来的,不过两者都起源于同一块母体;第二种理论假定月球是由地球上被撞掉的一块演化形成的,地球上留下的凹陷,形成了今天的太平洋;最后,第三种理论认为,我们的月球是一颗在宇宙中流浪的小行星,后被地球引力场所俘获。当月球地形出现在美国宇航员眼前的一刻…     

月球:带装甲的不倒翁

关于月球的来历一直有不同的看法,其中主要有地月同源说、地球捕获说和地月同体分离说。地月同源说认为,地球和月球是从同一团原始星云物质演化来的;地月同体分离说认为,地月本是一体,后来因撞击而分离;地球捕获说认为,月球是地球在运行当中捕获的一颗闯入太阳系的死行星。俄罗     

开发利用月球的新思路

1 引言 □□中国终于要探月了！ 关于探月的意义，有政治、科学、技术、经济以及外交等诸多方面。其最终目的是开发和利用月球，即开发和利用月球上的资源和环境。月球上的确有丰富的矿物资源，地球上所有的元素，月球上基本都有，但是否有开采价值，还是疑问。而人们真正感兴     

极区月壤和水冰形成演化机制及物理特性研究

月球极区独特的光照条件和表面环境特征是水富集和保存的理想场所,探测永久阴影区内的水冰对科学研究和开发利用月球资源具有重要的意义.综合调研了国际上在月球极区开展的理论研究和遥感探测成果,阐述了极区地质、表面光照条件和热环境特征.介绍了极区月壤和水的形成演化机制及水冰可能的赋存状态.系统梳理了国际上关于极区水冰的探测历程和...     

欧空局环月观测器方案

为了填补欧洲在月球探测领域的空白，欧空局于今年１０月向其部长级会议提出了研制欧洲第一个月球探测器的建议。现将该探测器的方案简介如下。欧洲第一个月球探测器取名为“环月观测器”（ＭＯＲＯ——ＭｏｏｎＯｒｂｉｔｉｎｇＯｂｓｅｒ－ｖａｔｏｒｙ）。它实际上是一个月球极轨卫星，其任务是对月面进行遥感观测，对全月球进行月貌和重力场测量，为研究月球的形成、演化和未来提供科学数据。ＭＯＲＯ将携带４种科学探测仪器和１颗微型子卫星。４种仪器是：·月球立体相机（ＬＵＳＴＥＣ）·月球紫外／可见光／红外绘图光谱计（ＬＵＶＩ…     

美国载人重返月球动机之我见

对美国载人重返月球的动机有各种说法,如何来正确分析认识这些说法是非常必要的。透过这些分析来比较客观地认识美国载人重返月球的真正动机,对于梳理我国实施月球探测计划的发展具有一定的借鉴意义。1关于载人重返月球动机的各种说法1．1探寻水冰之说在几次月球探测任务中,如1994年的“克莱门汀”,（Clementine）、1998年的“月球勘探者”（Prospector）,美国都对外宣称发现了月球可能存在水冰的证据,     

月球的构造格架及其演化差异

根据以GRAIL重力场数据和LOLA地形数据计算的月壳厚度,将月球构造格架初步划分为三个构造单元:主要覆盖月球正面风暴洋区域的月海构造单元、主要覆盖月球背面高地的月陆构造单元以及主要位于南半球背面的南极艾肯盆地构造单元。结合最新的研究成果,对各构造单元上的重大地质事件包括岩浆事件、火山事件和撞击事件分别进行了简单的梳理,结果表明月球不同构造单元的演化事件具有明显的差异。     

日本提出建立月球基地的计划草案

据美国1996年10月21日至27日的《空间新闻》报道，在今年10月中旬举行的第二届“国际月球讨论会”上（会址：日本京都），日本月球和行星协会提出了一个计划草案，打算依靠国际合作的方式，在3O年内花29万亿日元（合261亿美元）建立一个有人月球基地，其中包括食品和能源生产工厂。该计划的实施拟分以下四个阶段：第一阶段；无人探测（1999～2005年）目标：搜集关于月球的信息。用H－2火箭发射5次，发射一颗月球轨道观测卫星、2台月球车、2套生命科学实验系统。经费：1464亿日元。第二阶段：建造并运营无人系统（2006～2016年）目标：在月…     

基于LOLA数据的Aristarchus高原光照特性初步研究

改进了月面中低纬度地区光照分析算法,以Aristarchus高原（AP）为例,使用LRO卫星获得的高分辨率、高精度的LOLA数据和DE/LE430月球行星历表,同时基于月球天平动模型,定量计算和分析了AP地区的光照特性。结果表明：AP地区的光照率都在0.35以上,平坦地区的光照条件较好,受到地形的影响不同位置的光照率相差很大。光照率最大值点（B）要比最小值点（A）高出30%以上。考虑典型的长周期天平动效应,18.6年光照数据的分析结果表明,每个位置的光照率变化较小且趋于稳定,这对月球表面演化研究是一个重要的参考。     

Overview of the Latest Scientific Results of China's Lunar Exploration Program

China's Chang'E-4 probe successfully landed on 3 January 2019 in Von Kármán crater within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin on the lunar far side. Based on the data acquired by the scientific payloads onboard the lander and the rover, the researchers obtained the related information such as the geologic and tectonic setting of the landing area, compositional characteristics of the landing surface materials, dielectric permittivity and density of the lunar soil. The experiments confirmed the existence of materials dominated by olivine and low-calcium pyroxene in the SPA basin on the lunar far side, which preliminary revealed the geological evolution history of the SPA basin and even that of the early time lunar crust, as well as the tectonic setting and formation mechanism of the materials in the lunar interior. The researchers also inves-tigated the particle radiation, Linear Energy Transaction (LET) spectrum, and so forth on the lunar surface. The low-frequency radio observations were carried out on the lunar far side for the first time as well. This article summarizes the latest scientific results in the past years, focusing on the Chang'E-4 mission. Key words CLEP, Chang'E-4, Scientific objectives, Scientific payloads, Scientific results      

The present status of the Japanese Penetrator Mission: LUNAR-A

The scientific objective of the LUNAR-A Japanese Penetrator Mission is to explore the lunar interior by seismic and heat-flow experiments. Two penetrators containing two-component seismometer and heat-flow probes will be deployed from a spacecraft onto the lunar surface, one on the nearside and the other on the farside of the moon. The data obtained by the penetrators will be transmitted to the ground station by way of the LUNAR-A mother spacecraft orbiting at an altitude of about 200 km. The seismic observations are expected to provide key data on the size of the lunar core, as well as data on the deep mantle structure. The heat-flow measurements at two different sites will also provide important data on the thermal structure and bulk concentrations of heat-generating elements in the Moon. These data will provide much stronger geophysical constraints on the origin and evolution of the Moon than has ever been obtained. The LUNAR-A mission was supposed to be launched in 2004. However, a malfunction of spacecraft subsystem and technical issues for penetrator system occurred during the course of the qualification level test. Therefore, further improvements and some modifications were considered to be required for reliability and robustness. The development of the mother spacecraft was temporarily suspended, while we have put a three-year program into effect to solve the penetrator technology issues.     

Spatial heterogeneity in the radiogenic activity of the lunar interior: Inferences from CHACE and LLRI on Chandrayaan-1

In the past, clues on the potential radiogenic activity of the lunar interior have been obtained from the isotopic composition of noble gases like Argon. Excess Argon (40) relative to Argon (36), as compared to the solar wind composition, is generally ascribed to the radiogenic activity of the lunar interior. Almost all the previous estimates were based on, ‘on-the-spot’ measurements from the landing sites. Relative concentration of the isotopes of ⁴⁰Ar and ³⁶Ar along a meridian by the Chandra’s Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) experiment, on the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of India’s first mission to Moon, has independently yielded clues on the possible spatial heterogeneity in the radiogenic activity of the lunar interior in addition to providing indicative ‘antiquity’ of the lunar surface along the ground track over the near side of the moon. These results are shown to broadly corroborate the independent topography measurements by the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) in the main orbiter Chandrayaan-1. The unique combination of these experiments provided high spatial resolution data while indicating the possible close linkages between the lunar interior and the lunar ambience.     

Selenodetic experiments of SELENE: Relay subsatellite,differential VLBI,and laser altimeter

Since 1960s, the gravitational potential of the Moon has been extensively studied from Doppler tracking data between a ground station and spacecraft orbiting in front of the Moon (e. g., Lorell and Sjogren, 1968; Bills and Ferrari, 1980; Konopliv et al., 1993; Lemoine et al., 1997). Because direct radio communication is interrupted while spacecraft is orbiting behind the Moon, however, the coverage of tracking data has been limited mostly to the nearside of the Moon so far. In order to compensate for such lack of tracking data, we propose satellite-to-satellite Doppler measurement by using a relay subsatellite in Japanese mission to the Moon in 2003. A complete coverage of Doppler tracking from an orbiter at sufficiently low altitude will significantly improve lunar gravity model and will contribute for future geophysical study of interior and tectonics on the Moon. Further, we propose differential VLBI experiment between the subsatellite and a propulsion module landed on the surface of the Moon. The differential VLBI is about 10 times more accurate than conventional Doppler measurement for long-wavelength gravity field. Besides, differential VLBI is sensitive to the displacement perpendicular to the line of sight. Thus the VLBI experiment provides precise estimates of the lunar gravity potential at low degree. The last proposal for selenodetic experiments is a laser altimeter. Global topography model has been already developed from the analysis of Clementine LIDAR data (Zuber et al., 1994), but it is suggested that the model includes appreciable anisotropy between NS and E-W directions due to highly eccentric orbit of Clementine spacecraft (Bills and Lemoine, 1995). The laser altimeter experiment from an orbiter in nearly circular orbit will provide a new reference for the isotropic lunar topography model.     

The Japanese lunar mission SELENE: Science goals and present status

The Japanese lunar mission SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) has been in development to target launch scheduled 2007 summer by H-IIA rocket. The SELENE is starting final integration test after SAR (System Acceptance Review), SRR (System Reliability Review) and instrument environment test. The SELENE is a remote-sensing mission orbiting 100 km altitude of the Moon for nominal one year and extended some months to collect the data for studying the origin and evolution of the Moon. Fourteen instruments and experiment systems are preparing for studies of the Moon, in the Moon, and from the Moon; global element and mineral compositions, topological structure, gravity field of whole moon, and electromagnetic and particle environment of the Moon. The new data center SOAC (SELENE Operation and data Analysis Center) are completed to construct in JAXA Sagamihara campus, and end-to-end test will be carried out between SOAC and data downlink stations.     

The simulation of lunar gravity field recovery from D-VLBI of Chang’E-1 and SELENE lunar orbiters

The lunar gravity field is a foundation to study the lunar interior structure, and to recover the evolution history of the Moon. It is still an open and key topic for lunar science. For above mentioned reasons, it becomes one of the important scientific objectives of recent lunar missions, such as KAGUYA (SELENE) the Japanese lunar mission and Chang’E-1, the Chinese lunar mission. The Chang’E-1 and the SELENE were successfully launched in 2007. It is estimated that these two missions can fly around the Moon longer than 6 months simultaneously. In these two missions, the Chinese new VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) network will be applied for precise orbit determination (POD) by using a differential VLBI (D-VLBI) method during the mission period. The same-beam D-VLBI technique will contribute to recover the lunar gravity field together with other conventional observables, i.e. R&RR (Range and Range Rate) and multi-way Doppler. Taking VLBI tracking conditions into consideration and using the GEODYNII/SOVLE software of GSFC/NASA/USA [8 and 10], we simulated the lunar gravity field recovering ability with and without D-VLBI between the Chang’E-1 and SELENE main satellite. The cases of overlapped flying and tracking period of 30 days, 60 days and 90 days have been analyzed, respectively. The results show that D-VLBI tracking between two lunar satellites can improve the gravity field recovery remarkably. The results and methods introduced in this paper will benefit the actual missions.     

CAS-1 lunar soil simulant

Lunar soil simulant is a geochemical reproduction of lunar regolith, and is needed for lunar science and engineering researches. This paper describes a new lunar soil simulant, CAS-1, prepared by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to support lunar orbiter, soft-landing mission and sample return missions of China’s Lunar Exploration Program, which is scheduled for 2004–2020. Such simulants should match the samples returned from the Moon, all collected from the lunar regolith rather than outcrops. The average mineral and chemical composition of lunar soil sample returned from the Apollo 14 mission, which landed on the Fra Mauro Formation, is chosen as the model for the CAS-1 simulant. Source material for this simulant was a low-Ti basaltic scoria dated at 1600 years from the late Quaternary volcanic area in the Changbai Mountains of northeast China. The main minerals of this rock are pyroxene, olivine, and minor plagioclase, and about 20–40% modal glass. The scoria was analyzed by XRF and found to be chemically similar to Apollo 14 lunar sample 14163. It was crushed in an impact mill with a resulting median particle size 85.9 μm, similar to Apollo soils. Bulk density, shear resistance, complex permittivity, and reflectance spectra were also similar to Apollo 14 soil. We conclude that CAS-1 is an ideal lunar soil simulant for science and engineering research of future lunar exploration program.     

Space-radiation-induced photon luminescence of the Moon

We report on the results of a continuing study of the photon luminescence of the Moon induced by Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and space radiation from the Sun, using the Monte Carlo program FLUKA. Understanding the space radiation environment is critical to future exploration of the Moon, and this includes photons. The model of the lunar surface is taken to be the chemical composition of soils found at various landing sites during the Apollo and Luna programs, averaged over all such sites to define a generic regolith for the present analysis. This surface model then becomes the target that is bombarded by Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) or Solar Particle Events (SPEs) above 1 keV in FLUKA to determine the photon fluence albedo produced by the Moon’s surface when there is no sunlight and Earthshine. The result is to be distinguished from the gamma-ray spectrum produced by the radioactive decay of radiogenic constituents lying in the surface and interior of the Moon. From the photon fluence we derive the spectrum which can be utilized to examine existing lunar spectral data and to aid future orbiting instrumentation in the measurement of various components of the space-radiation-induced photon luminescence present on the Moon.     

Lunar palaeomagnetism and its implications

The final great impacts, creating the multi-ring basins on the Moon, must have altered its principal axes of inertia and, assuming solid state creep in its interior, caused successive reorientation relative to its pole of rotation. Lunar palaeomagnetism has been explained by an early lunar magnetic field generated by a core dynamo. The palaeomagnetic directions of the lunar crust determined from the Apollo 15 and 16 subsatellite magnetometer surveys, by L.L. Hood and colleagues, challenges interpretation on this idea. The palaeoequators so determined for Imbrium, Nectarian and pre-Nectarian times place impacts of the same age in low latitude: there must have been small moons in the Earth-Moon system, which impacted the Moon in its retreat from the Earth. Sources of presumed Imbrium age are magnetized in agreement with the dipole formula: proving the existence of an early lunar core-dynamo field.     

Chang'E-1 Lunar Mission:An Overview and Primary Science Results

Chang'E-1 is the first lunar mission in China, which was successfully launched on Oct. 24th, 2007. It was guided to crash on the Moon on March 1, 2009, at 52.36oE, 1.50oS, in the north of Mare Fecunditatis. The total mission lasted 495 days, exceeding the designed life-span about four months. 1.37 Terabytes raw data was received from Chang'E-1. It was then processed into 4 Terabytes science data at different levels. A series of science results have been achieved by analyzing and applicating these data, especially "global image of the Moon of China's first lunar exploration mission'. Four scientific goals of Chang'E-1 have been achieved. It provides abundant materials for the research of lunar sciences and cosmochemistry. Meanwhile these results will serve for China's future lunar missions.