I WILL EXPAND AND ENHANCE MY PREVIOUS STUDIES OF THE NEWLY REDISCOVERED APOLLO 17'S LUNAR SEISMIC PROFILING EXPERIMENT (LSPE) AND LUNAR SURFACE GRAVIMETER (LSG) DATA. THIS WORK INVESTIGATES THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THERMAL MOONQUAKES AND LUNAR REGOLITH PRODUCTION USING LSPE AND PROBES THE INTERIOR OF THE MOON BY DETERMINING THE LOCATIONS OF DEEP MOONQUAKES FROM LSG. THE MOON IS THE ONLY PLANETARY BODY (OTHER THAN THE EARTH) TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT RECORD OF SEISMOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. APOLLO 12-16 STATIONS FORM THE PASSIVE SEISMIC ARRAY THAT HAS BEEN EXTENSIVELY ANALYZED FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF SEISMIC EVENTS INCLUDING DEEP MOONQUAKES AND THERMAL EVENTS. DEEP MOONQUAKES OCCUR ABOUT HALFWAY TO THE CORE OF THE MOON AND HAVE LUNAR STRUCTURE IMPLICATIONS WHILE THERMAL MOONQUAKES ARE LINKED TO CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE AND GIVE INFORMATION ON LUNAR SURFACE PROCESSES. APOLLO 17'S LSPE AND LSG WERE ALSO DEPLOYED ON THE MOON BUT THE DATA WERE LOST AND NEVER ANALYZED. BY USING THE NEWLY DISCOVERED APOLLO 17 DATA WE CAN FORM A MORE COMPLETE SEISMIC PROFILE OF THE MOON FROM THE SURFACE TO THE CORE. BY STUDYING AND IMPROVING THE DEEP MOONQUAKE LOCATION UNCERTAINTIES USING THE LSG DATA WE CAN GREATLY IMPROVE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE INTERIOR OF THE MOON. THE LSPE DATA ADDS INSIGHTS ON THERMALLY INDUCED MOONQUAKES FOR ADDITIONAL PROPERTIES ABOUT THE LUNAR SURFACE SUCH AS THE POSSIBLE BREAKDOWN OF ROCKS INTO REGOLITH AND THE LOCATIONS OF THESE SMALL-SCALE EVENTS. THIS STUDY IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO NASA'S STRATEGIC PLAN AND TOPICS IDENTIFIED AS RELEVANT TO NASA'S PLANETARY SCIENCE RESEARCH PROGRAM SUCH AS ENHANCING SCIENCE RETURN THROUGH DATA ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATING THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE MOON
$135,000FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
The University Of Alabama In Huntsville