116 Lunar Science and Exploration in the Artemis Era (Posters)

Current and anticipated science return in the areas of geology, composition, and interior of the Moon from current lunar-focused studies and upcoming payloads expected to land on the Moon in the next decade.

Monday, 20 October 2025
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, Hall 1

LRO Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) Latest Results and Plans for LRO Extended Science Mission 6

Paper number: 116-0
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

Far-ultraviolet (FUV) reflectance measurements of the Moon, icy satellites, comets, and asteroids have proven surprisingly useful for advancing our understanding of planetary surfaces, expanding upon the primary historical use of UV instruments to investigate planetary atmospheres and auroral processes. This new appreciation for planetary FUV imaging spectroscopy is provided in large part thanks to 16 years of investigations with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP). LRO-LAMP FUV spectral-imaging maps of the lunar dayside, nightside, and permanently shaded regions (PSRs) are useful in the context of numerous properties not originally understood prior to LRO’s launch in 2009.

Detailed FUV spectral analyses (Gladstone et al. 2012), supplemented by laboratory efforts (Raut et al. 2018), investigate regolith structure/porosity and the relative aging of surface features by space weathering (Mandt et al. 2016; Byron et al. 2019; Byron et al. 2020; Cahill et al. 2019; Liu et al. 2018). Global searches of water signatures both inside (Magaña et al. 2022, 2023, 2024) and diurnal variations in hydration features outside of lunar PSRs (Hendrix et al. 2012; Hendrix et al. 2019) are allowing us to confirm and elucidate the findings of surface water/hydroxyl and its variability. These analyses support each other and advance the identification of compositional signatures in regolith (i.e., feldspar-rich highlands, Czajka et al. 2023; lunar swirls, Henrix et al. 2016). 

See the QuickMap (https://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu) tool for examples: https://bit.ly/3n8PWGj and https://bit.ly/3n69qeL.

The LRO Extended Science Mission 6 (ESM6) enables more surface reflectance data at a variety of incidence and emission angles to improve signal, spectral, and photometric quality and further develop our innovative UV reflectance techniques (Davis et al. 2017) – albeit with reduced performance at long wavelengths. Ongoing laboratory studies are constraining the compositional and photometric properties of lunar samples and simulant analogs (Gimar et al., submitted, 2025). Observations of comets (Magaña et al. 2022), the interplanetary medium (Pryor et al. 2022, 2023, 2024), the lunar exosphere (Grava et al., submitted, 2025) and other targets are planned for ESM6, in addition to support of, and landing gas-plume imaging of, the exciting series of upcoming lunar missions, as available.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-414191

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