Thermal modeling of the lunar South Pole: Application to the PROSPECT landing site

Abstract

Water ice is distributed on the surface and in the subsurface of the Moon, as confirmed by observational data, and predicted by several numerical models. In this respect, the direct search for lunar water is the main objective of the ESA’s PROSPECT package, that aims to analyze a region of interest at the lunar South Pole. PROSPECT, originally on the Russian Luna 27, is now on the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Provider Service) “CP” 22 mission. In this work, we applied our 3-D FEM thermophysical model to investigate the landing site selected for the CP 22 mission, which is centred at −84.496°S, 31.588°E, and located on the Leibnitz Plateau and within an area of high elevation. The purpose of our model is to investigate regions of interest (ROI) on the lunar surface by working with the real topography at the scale of 5 m, by using the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) of the region. Since the lunar surface is characterized by topographic variations such as craters or boulders, a 3-D model is preferable over a 1-D numerical model. We produced temperature maps of the surface and 1-D temperature vs depth, as well as we produced illumination maps, computing also the indirect contribution. These simulations will provide a complete thermophysical vision of the landing site, offering a theoretical support to the researchers and engineers of the CP 22 mission, and of future lunar missions. In addition, this model can be applied to every site of the Moon surface and subsurface and, in general, to any airless body of the Solar System.