Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2004 NAE Symposium on Frontiers of Engineering (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Accessing the Lunar Poles for Human Exploration Missions--B. Kent Joosten
Accessing the Lunar Poles for Human Exploration Missions--B. Kent Joosten
Pages 33-36
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From page 33... ...
Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas The National Vision for Space Exploration calls for an American return to the Moon in preparation for the human exploration of Mars and other destinations. The surface environment of the Moon presents many challenges for human operations, but recent findings from robotic and Earth-based studies indicate that the lunar polar regions may offer advantages in terms of thermal conditions, availability of solar energy, and access to local resources.
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From page 34... ...
The nearly permanently illuminated areas offer moderate thermal conditions and potentially abundant solar power. The permanently shadowed regions have long been hypothesized to harbor "cold traps" that might have preserved volatiles, such as water ice deposited by millennia of cometary impacts.
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From page 35... ...
CONCLUSION Lunar polar locations may have environmental and resource advantages over equatorial sites and may enable future lunar mission to meet the goals laid out in the National Vision for Space Exploration. The challenges associated with human access to the polar regions are understood.
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From page 36... ...
1999. Topography of the lunar poles from radar interferometry: a survey of cold trap locations.
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