OUR PROPOSAL AIMS TO INVESTIGATE THE SHIELDING EFFECT OF EARTH'S MAGNETOTAIL ON THE FORMATION OF LUNAR SURFACE WATER (OH/H2O) USING THE WATER ABSORPTION BANDS OF M3 DATA NEAR 3 MICRON. HYDROGEN FROM THE SOLAR WIND PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN THE FORMATION OF LUNAR SURFACE WATER. THE TEMPORAL (I.E. DIURNAL) VARIATION OF THE LUNAR SURFACE WATER SUGGESTS THAT THE FORMATION OF WATER BY SOLAR WIND IMPLANTATION IS AN INSTANTANEOUS PROCESS. BUT BECAUSE THE MOON TRAVERSES THROUGH EARTH'S MAGNETOTAIL IN EACH LUNAR DAY THE MAGNETOTAIL CAN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE THE FLUX OF SOLAR WIND HYDROGEN HITTING THE LUNAR SURFACE. THUS LESS WATER IS PREDICTED TO BE PRESENT AT LOCATIONS IN THE MAGNETOTAIL THAT REPELS SOLAR WIND HYDROGEN. HOWEVER THE LYMAN ALPHA MAPPING PROJECT (LAMP) OBSERVATIONS SUGGEST NO HYDRATION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGIONS IN AND OUT OF THE MAGNETOTAIL [HENDRIX ET AL. 2016]. WE WILL VERIFY THE OBSERVATIONS BY [HENDRIX ET AL. 2016] WITH M3 DATA. WE PROPOSE TO ASSESS THE VARIATION OF LUNAR SURFACE WATER DURING THE MOON TRAVERSES THROUGH THE MAGNETOTAIL. OUR PREVIOUS STUDY SHOWS THAT THE LUNAR SURFACE WATER VARIES WITH LATITUDE LOCAL TIME AND OPTICAL MATURITY. WE WILL EXAMINE THE WATER VARIATION AT THE SAME LATITUDE. HOWEVER THE EFFECTS FROM LOCAL TIME AND OPTICAL MATURITY NEED TO BE ACCOMMODATED. FIVE TASKS ARE PROPOSED FOR ACHIEVING OUR GOALS. IN TASK 1 WE WILL CALCULATE THE LUNAR PHASE OF EACH M3 IMAGE CUBE BASED ON THEIR ACQUISITION TIME AND COLLECT ALL M3 RADIANCE AND AUXILIARY DATA (LEVEL 1B) THAT WERE ACQUIRED FROM 1 EARTH'S DAY BEFORE ENTERING THE MAGNETOTAIL TO 1 EARTH'S DAY AFTER EXITING THE MAGNETOTAIL (LUNAR PHASES FROM 270 W TO 80 E). THESE DATA WILL BE PROCESSED ACCORDING TO THEIR OPTICAL PERIODS (5 OPS) AND THE "COLD" / "WARM" CONDITIONS OF THE M3 SENSOR. IN TASK 2 WE WILL CALIBRATE THE COLLECTED M3 DATA IN TASK 1 USING THE SAME METHODS AS THAT M3 TEAM USED EXCEPT THAT WE WILL USE OUR NEW THERMAL CORRECTION MODEL [LI AND MILLIKEN 2016]. WE WILL THEN DERIVE THE ABSORPTION STRENGTH MAP OF WATER BAND AT 2.86 MICRON (BAND 82) FROM THE NEW CALIBRATED M3 DATA. IN TASK 3 WE WILL DERIVE THE LOCAL TIME OF ALL COLLECTED M3 DATA IN TASK 1 USING THE SAME METHOD AS THAT IN LI AND MILLIKEN [2017]. THE RESPECTIVE OPTICAL MATURITY MAP (OMAT) WILL BE DERIVED FROM THE MULTIBAND IMAGER (MI) DATA ONBOARD THE JAPANESE KAGUYA MISSION. IN TASK 4 WE WILL MINIMIZE THE EFFECTS FROM LOCAL TIME AND OPTICAL MATURITY FOR OUR WATER MAPS. IN THE FINAL TASK (5) WE WILL ASSESS THE WATER VARIATION BETWEEN THE MOON IN AND OUT OF THE MAGNETOTAIL. POSSIBLE UNCERTAINTIES IN EACH TASK ARE ALSO DISCUSSED. AS A PROOF OF CONCEPT WE PICKED A SMALL PORTION OF M3 DATA FROM OP2C AND PROCESSED THOSE DATA FROM TASK 1 TO TASK 5. STRONG DEPRESSION OF WATER CONTENT FOR REGIONS IN THE MAGNETOTAIL IS OBSERVED IN OUR PILOT STUDY AND IS INDICATIVE OF MAGNETOTAIL SHIELDING EFFECTS. IF RESULTS FROM ALL PROPOSED STUDY ARE POSITIVE WE WILL PROVIDE THE FIRST EVIDENCE OF THE MAGNETOTAIL SHIELDING EFFECT ON THE FORMATION OF THE LUNAR SURFACE WATER WHICH IS CRITICAL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE POSSIBLE DIFFERENCE OF SPACE WEATHERING BETWEEN THE FAR SIDE AND NEAR SIDE OF THE MOON. OUR IMPROVED KNOWLEDGE OF THE FORMATION LOSS AND RETENTION PROCESSES OF LUNAR SURFACE WATER WILL EVENTUALLY HELP TO UNDERSTAND SIMILAR PROCESSES ON OTHER AIRLESS BODIES IN THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM SUCH AS MERCURY PHOBOS BENNU (TARGET ASTEROID OF OSIRIS-REX) AND RYUGU (TARGET ASTEROID OF HAYABUSA 2). OUR OBJECTIVE AND PROPOSED TASKS MATCH ONE OF THE HIGH PRIORITY AREAS OF LUNAR RESEARCH DESCRIBED IN LDAP: "IDENTIFICATION DISTRIBUTION TRANSPORT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF VOLATILES IN AND ON THE MOON".