P077-0011
The Lunar Geophysical Network Mission
Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Nicholas C Schmerr, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States, Clive Robert Neal, Univ Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, United States, Renee C Weber, NASA/NSSTC, Huntsville, AL, United States, William Bruce Banerdt, JPL/NASA/Caltech, Pasadena, CA, United States, Caroline Beghein, UCLA - Earth and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Peter J Chi, University of California Los Angeles, Department of Earth Planetary and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States, Douglas G Currie, Organization Not Listed, Washington, DC, United States, Simone Dell'Agnello, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell’INFN, Frascati, Italy, Raphael F. Garcia, Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, DEOS/SSPA, Toulouse Cedex 04, France, Ian Garrick-Bethell, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, Robert E Grimm, Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, Matthias Grott, German Aerospace Ctr DLR, Berlin, Germany, Heidi Haviland, UC Berkeley, Space Sciences Lab, Berkeley, CA, United States, Taichi Kawamura, Université de Paris, Institut de physique du globe de Paris, Paris, France, Sharon Kedar, JPL, Pasadena, CA, United States, Philippe Henri Lognonné, Université de Paris, Institut de physique du globe de Paris, CNRS, Paris, France, Seiichi Nagihara, Texas Tech Univ, Lubbock, TX, United States, Yosio Nakamura, Univ of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States, Ceri Nunn, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Lillian Rose Ostrach, USGS Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, Mark P Panning, Univ of FL-Geological Sciences, Gainesville, FL, United States, Noah E Petro, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Matthew Siegler, Planetary Science Institute Tucson, Tucson, AZ, United States, Thomas R Watters, Smithsonian Inst, Washington, DC, United States, Mark Wieczorek Sr., Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur - Laboratoire Lagrange, Nice, France and Kris Zacny, Honeybee Robotics, Pasadena, United States
Abstract:
The Lunar Geophysical Network (LGN) mission will be part of NASA’s New Frontiers 5 call. Work conducted as part of the PMCS initiative has further developed this mission. The LGN goal is to u
nderstand the initial stages of terrestrial planet evolution, which is preserved in the Moon as seen in the source regions of mare basalts.
Baseline Mission: 4 identical landers put into lunar orbit together and deployed sequentially across the Moon. A dedicated communications satellite will communicate with a farside station. Nearside stations will have direct-to-Earth comm but can use the satellite if needed. Mission duration is 6 years (1 lunar tidal cycle) with a goal of 10 years. Each lander will carry short period and very broad band seismometers, a lunar magnetotelluric sounding suite, heat flow probes, and laser retroreflectors.
LGN has 4 Objectives that will be achieved through 5 Investigations.
Objectives: Evaluate the interior structure and dynamics of the Moon; Constrain the interior and bulk composition of the Moon; Delineate the vertical/lateral heterogeneities within the interior of the Moon as they relate to surface features and terranes; Evaluate the current lunar seismo-tectonic activity.
Investigations: Determine the size, state, and composition of the lunar core; Determine the state and chemical/physical stratification of the lunar mantle; Determine the thickness of the lunar crust and characterize its vertical and lateral variability; Determine the thermal state of the lunar interior and elucidate the workings of the planetary heat engine; Monitor impact events on the lunar surface.
Landing Sites: 3 nearside (PKT; Schickard Basin – SB; Mare Crisium – MC), 1 farside (Korolev Basin – KB). These sites allow the lunar interior to be defined (SB & KB are favorably located for core phase observations from deep moonquake nests) and span crustal thicknesses. The SB and KB sites are close to lobate scarps and could investigate shallow moonquake seismicity. Heat flow and magnetotelluric sounding will be determined from distinct terranes heat-producing (PKT) and without the crustal layer (MC). The deployed laser retroreflectors will significantly expand the current network allowing much needed increased fidelity on ranging measurements to enable new discoveries about the lunar interior.
