CaltechAUTHORS
Published April 2012 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Farside explorer: unique science from a mission to the farside of the moon

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon University of Paris
  • 2. ROR icon Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
  • 3. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 4. ROR icon Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology
  • 5. ROR icon Paris Observatory
  • 6. ROR icon Radboud University Nijmegen
  • 7. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
  • 8. ROR icon German Aerospace Center
  • 9. ROR icon Southwest Research Institute
  • 10. ROR icon Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe
  • 11. ROR icon Delft University of Technology
  • 12. ROR icon University of British Columbia
  • 13. ROR icon Planetary Science Institute
  • 14. ROR icon Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
  • 15. ROR icon Institute of Radio Astronomy
  • 16. ROR icon Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  • 17. ROR icon Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique de Nantes
  • 18. ROR icon University of Notre Dame
  • 19. ROR icon Technical University of Denmark
  • 20. ROR icon Leiden University
  • 21. ROR icon University of Glasgow
  • 22. ROR icon French National Centre for Scientific Research

Abstract

Farside Explorer is a proposed Cosmic Vision medium-size mission to the farside of the Moon consisting of two landers and an instrumented relay satellite. The farside of the Moon is a unique scientific platform in that it is shielded from terrestrial radio-frequency interference, it recorded the primary differentiation and evolution of the Moon, it can be continuously monitored from the Earth–Moon L2 Lagrange point, and there is a complete lack of reflected solar illumination from the Earth. Farside Explorer will exploit these properties and make the first radio-astronomy measurements from the most radio-quiet region of near-Earth space, determine the internal structure and thermal evolution of the Moon, from crust to core, and quantify impact hazards in near-Earth space by the measurement of flashes generated by impact events. The Farside Explorer flight system includes two identical solar-powered landers and a science/telecommunications relay satellite to be placed in a halo orbit about the Earth–Moon L2 Lagrange point. One lander would explore the largest and oldest recognized impact basin in the Solar System— the South Pole–Aitken basin—and the other would investigate the primordial highlands crust. Radio astronomy, geophysical, and geochemical instruments would be deployed on the surface, and the relay satellite would continuously monitor the surface for impact events.

Additional Information

© The Author(s) 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Received: 6 February 2011 / Accepted: 4 August 2011 / Published online: 27 October 2011. The authors would like to thank Astrium Satellites and Thales Alenia Space who contributed to the preparation of this paper. Claude Jaupart, George Smoot, Sean Solomon, and Stuart Ross Taylor are thanked for their support of this mission proposal. For a complete listing of the supporting individuals, visit the web site http://farside.spacecampus-paris.eu/.

Attached Files

Published - farside_explorer.pdf

Files

farside_explorer.pdf

Files (1.8 MB)

Name Size
md5:740fc6fa5650f67f910a68fd8aefa7a5
1.8 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
64820
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20160226-153351405

Funding

Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS)

Dates

Created
2016-03-01
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Keck Institute for Space Studies