Vertregt J: Approaching Aitken

During orbit 7152, January 11, 2011, as LRO slewed to obliquely view Aitken crater (Featured Image, January 17), the northern edge of Vertregt J was serendipitously captured by the Narrow Angle Camera. North is to the left and the image field of view is about 6 kilometers [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Mark Robinson
Principal Investigator
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera
Arizona State University

Extreme oblique views are a luxury with the LRO mission, since most instruments (including LROC) need to be pointed nadir (straight down) most of the time. Also, thermal concerns limit when LRO can look off to the side. The LROC targeting team closely monitors when opportunities arise to target extreme slews and acquire spectacular views (Bhabha crater).

LROC Wide Angle Camera mosaic, centered on the Vertreg J (21.5°S, 174.3°E) oblique NAC featured image, January 19, 2011. Image field of view is 80 kilometers; A = bottom of Aitken crater, V = Vertregt K & VJ = Vertregt J [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Sometimes LROC obtains images while the spacecraft is slewing to a steady off-nadir position, which takes about ten minutes, in order to acquire oblique views. When possible the LROC targeting team will squeeze in a short NAC image just as the spacecraft is nearing the slew position - when this type of targeting works we sometimes obtain spectacular views such as today's featured image.

The full Narrow Angle Camera oblique view, with the double crater Vertregt J partially seen in the southeast background (right). The full scene is about 30 kilometers wide, LROC NAC M149411489 [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

The region around Vertregt J (21.46°S, 174.32°E) is typical of the highlands - hilly and rugged. About seventy percent of the Moon is mapped as highlands, yet this most common terrain type is only poorly sampled. Only one Apollo mission explored a true highland target: Apollo 16.

As it turns out, results from the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions showed lunar scientists that the chemistry of Apollo 16 rocks differs significantly from most the highlands. Murphy's law at work!

Lunar scientists need samples from other highland targets, especially inside the South Pole Aitken Basin (SPA) basin, to get a better handle on the origin of the lunar crust and the history of asteroid bombardment early in our solar system's history.

Explore at full resolution the Vertregt J oblique view.

Also visit the oblique view taken a few minutes later across the center of Aitken crater.

Explanation of "lettered craters" on the Moon.

NLSI picks first seven member teams

NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) has picked seven initial research teams. Each will specialize in overlaping areas of important areas of reseach and will act as nodes for the virtual institute, headquartered modestly at NASA Ames at Moffett Field, California.

The first member teams are:

- The Moon as Cornerstone to the Terrestrial Planets: The Formative Years; principal investigator Carle Pieters, Planetary Geosciences Group, Brown University in Providence.

- Scientific and Exploration Potential of the Lunar Poles; principal investigator Ben Bussey, senior staff scientist and noted expert at lunar polar illumination at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) in Laurel, Maryland.

- Impact Processes in the Origin and Evolution of the Moon: New Sample-driven Perspectives; principal investigator David Kring, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona and LPSI in Houston.

- Dynamic Response of the Environment at the Moon; principal investigator William Farrell, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

- Understanding the Formation and Bombardment History of the Moon; principal investigator William Bottke, Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, CO.

- Lunar University Node for Astrophysics Research: Exploring the Cosmos from the Moon; principal investigator Jack Burns, Professor and Vice President Emeritus for Academic Affairs and Research, Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado at Boulder.

- NASA Lunar Science Institute: Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies; principal investigator Mihaly Horanyi, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder

“We look forward to solid contributions from these teams,” said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Division at NASA HQ. “These are some of the key individuals who will be vital to NASA successfully conducting the ambitious activities of returning to the moon with robots and humans.”

Teams were selected from 33 proposals.

Based and managed at NASA Ames, NLSI is designed to be a virtual institute, "enabling the newly selected members to remain at their home institutions. Partnerships and collaborations among members are highly encouraged and facilitated through a variety of proven networking tools, such as frequent videoconferences," according to the NLSI announcement.

Opened in April 2008, the facility is modeled after the NASA Astrobiology Institute, also based at Ames. That institute is also a "virtual facility" successfully sustaining a productive research program for more than a decade.

For further information on the institute and lunar science visit NSLI.