MAGNETISM AND DYNAMOS ARE COMMONLY FOUND THROUGHOUT OUR SOLAR SYSTEM. THERE IS SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE THAT THE MOON ONCE POSSESSED A DYNAMO UNTIL PERHAPS AS RECENTLY AS 2 BILLION YEARS AGO. HOWEVER THE EXACT DRIVING MECHANISM AND HISTORY OF THIS DYNAMO REMAINS UNCLEAR. MEASUREMENTS OF THE MOON'S CRUSTAL MAGNETIC ANOMALIES WITH REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS ARE A KEY MEANS OF ASSESSING THIS HISTORY. ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT MAGNETIC ANOMALIES IS REINER GAMMA AN ISOLATED FEATURE IN OCEANUS PROCELLARUM. DESPITE DECADES OF STUDY WE DO NOT KNOW HOW THIS FEATURE FORMED. IN FACT WE DO NOT KNOW THE GEOLOGIC ORIGIN OF ANY OF THE MOON'S MAGNETIC ANOMALIES. WITHOUT SUCH KNOWLEDGE IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO RELATE ANY SUCH FEATURES TO THE HISTORY AND ORIGINS OF THE LUNAR DYNAMO. THE GOAL OF THIS STUDY IS TO USE THE BEST AVAILABLE REMOTE SENSING DATA TO CONSTRAIN THE FORMATION MECHANISM OF REINER GAMMA. THE TWO PLAUSIBLE HYPOTHESES FOR ITS FORMATION INCLUDE A VOLCANIC INTRUSION OR AN EJECTA DEPOSIT. WE WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE HIGH-ALBEDO SURFACE MARKINGS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FEATURE WHICH IN TURN ARE RELATED TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF MAGNETIC SOURCE BODIES AT DEPTH. OUR FIRST OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO BETTER CHARACTERIZE A NEWLY DISCOVERED TOPOGRAPHY CORRELATION WITH ALBEDO TO INFER THE POSSIBLE DEPTH AND GEOMETRY OF THE MAGNETIC SOURCE BODIES. OUR SECOND OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO MODEL PART OF REINER GAMMA AS AN ELLIPTICAL UNIFORMLY MAGNETIZED DISK. OUR THIRD OBJECTIVE WILL BE TO USE A NEWLY DISCOVERED ALBEDO-GRAVITY CORRELATION AT REINER GAMMA TO PRODUCE ITS FIRST GEOLOGIC CROSS SECTION. FINALLY WE WILL SYNTHESIZE OUR RESULTS AND ASSESS THEM IN THE CONTEXT OF SEVERAL FORMATION HYPOTHESES. SINCE REINER GAMMA IS A HIGH PRIORITY LANDING SITE THIS STUDY MAY HELP PLAN FUTURE ROBOTIC AND HUMAN MISSIONS.
$272,904FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA