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THE LYMAN ALPHA MAPPING PROJECT (LAMP) AND LROC WIDE-ANGLE CAMERA ABOARD LRO ARE COLLECTING FAR-ULTRAVIOLET (FUV) AND NEAR-ULTRAVIOLET (NUV) DATA OF THE MOON THAT IS PROVIDING UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES OF THE LUNAR SURFACE. IN PARTICULAR LUNAR SURFACE MATURITY MANIFESTS DIFFERENTLY IN THE FUV AS COMPARED TO THE VISIBLE (VIS) NEAR-INFRARED (NIR) AND EVEN THE MID- (MUV) TO NEARULTRAVIOLET (NUV) [1-5]. SOME RECENT OBSERVATIONS OF THE MUV TO NUV WITH LRO WAC HAVE LED SOME TO SUGGEST THE ULTRAVIOLET IS MORE SENSITIVE TO THINNER DEPOSITS AND SHORTER TIME SCALES THAN LONGER WAVELENGTHS AND THEREFORE WILL PROVE INFORMATIVE TOWARDS RELATIVE AGE DATING ON SHORTER TIME SCALES. LAMP MAY BE SIMILAR AND PERHAPS EVEN MORE SENSITIVE AT THE<200 NM SCALES HOWEVER WITH THESE UNIQUE STRENGTHS COME CHALLENGES TOWARDS ITS INTERPRETATION THAT NEED TO BE UNDERSTOOD AND RESOLVED. FOR EXAMPLE ONLY A FEW DATA SETS HAVE BEEN COLLECTED IN THE LAB TO SUPPORT AND VALIDATE INTERPRETATION OF LAMP DATA SETS BOTH IN TERMS OF COMPOSITION AND MATURITY [6-9]. SOME OF THESE DATA SETS ARE SEVERAL DECADES OLD AND WERE COLLECTED WITH LESS ADVANCED INSTRUMENTATION AND UNDER NON LUNAR-LIKE CONDITIONS. THIS MAKES INTERPRETING THIS 'NEW' WAVELENGTH RANGE CHALLENGING YET VERY RIPE FOR USE. HERE WE WILL EXAMINE THE LUNAR SURFACE AND DIFFERENCES IN SURFACE MATURITY IN THE FUV RELATIVE TO THE MUV NUV AND VIS BUT IN THE CONTEXT OF LABORATORY SPECTRA EELS DATA OF VALENCE STATE AND HAADF IMAGING OF LUNAR HIGHLANDS SAMPLES AND FE-IMPREGNATED SILICA GEL LUNAR ANALOGS TO SOLIDIFY OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SPACE WEATHERING PROCESSES AND THE ROLE OF FE AND ITS PARTICLE SIZE DEPOSITED ON GRAINS IN THE VIS AND NIR. THESE DATA WILL THEN BE USED TO EXAMINE LUNAR MATURITY IN THE MARE HIGHLANDS AND POLAR REGIONS SYSTEMATICALLY AS A FUNCTION OF LATITUDE. SIMILAR OBSERVATIONS WITH CLEMENTINE HAVE SHOWN VARIATION ON MATURITY WITH LATITUDE HERE WE AIM TO SEE IF THE ULTRAVIOLET AGREES AND IF SO DOES IT PROVIDE ANY MORE USEFUL INFORMATION SINCE IT IS LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO CHEMISTRY INDUCED VARIATIONS IN SPECTRAL COLOR AS COMPARED TO VISIBLE AND NEAR-INFRARED DATA.

$553,292FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

The Johns Hopkins University

Investigators

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