Characterization of the LCROSS impact plume from a ground-based imaging detection

Paul D. Strycker (), Nancy J. Chanover, Charles Miller, Ryan T. Hamilton, Brendan Hermalyn, Robert M. Suggs and Michael Sussman
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Paul D. Strycker: University of Wisconsin-Platteville
Nancy J. Chanover: New Mexico State University
Charles Miller: New Mexico State University
Ryan T. Hamilton: New Mexico State University
Brendan Hermalyn: Hawaii Space Flight Lab/SOEST, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
Robert M. Suggs: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
Michael Sussman: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission was designed to search for evidence of water in a permanently shadowed region near the lunar south pole. An instrumented Shepherding Spacecraft followed a kinetic impactor and provided – from a nadir perspective – the only images of the debris plume. With independent observations of the visible debris plume from a more oblique view, the angles and velocities of the ejecta from this unique cratering experiment are better constrained. Here we report the first visible observations of the LCROSS ejecta plume from Earth, thereby ascertaining the morphology of the plume to contain a minimum of two separate components, placing limits on ejecta velocities at multiple angles, and permitting an independent estimate of the illuminated ejecta mass. Our mass estimate implies that the lunar volatile inventory in the Cabeus permanently shadowed region includes a water concentration of 6.3±1.6% by mass.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3620

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