One of the innovative technologies we have been presented with as ESA Technology Broker UK is a thermal mapping solution for the Moon.
Humanity has been travelling to the Moon for over 65 years, with the USSR’s Lunar 1 flying there in 1959, Luna 9 making the first soft landing in 1966, and the United States’ Apollo 11 achieving the first human landing in 1969.
Programmes are continuing today to return to the Moon for a number of reasons, ranging from the educational and scientific to the commercial. However, current mapping technologies provide a limited scope and functionality with the maps used by agencies such as NASA and the ESA covering less than 5% of the Moon.
Why is Lunar Mapping Important?
Having a fuller picture of the Moon’s environment provides a platform to explore the geological features of the Moon but it can also assist with mission safety and prevent equipment failure.
With temperatures ranging from 121°C in daylight to -133°C after nightfall (and to less than -246°C in deep craters in permanent shadow), thermal mapping can help determine the conditions likely to be encountered by astronauts or equipment during a mission so as to select favourable sites to reduce mission cost or risk. The maps can also flag up areas that contain lunar volatiles such as hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, ammonia and methanol that can be harmful to both human health and equipment.
Interstellar Mapping’s Solution
Multinational off-Earth mapping and technology company, Interstellar Mapping have developed the world's most detailed thermal map of the Moon, enabling users to identify key strategic sites and perform operational risk assessments based upon environmental operating conditions.
Providing data for over 400 million points across the Moon every 2.5 hours for the entire lunar year, Interstellar Mapping’s thermal map can:
- Remotely locate life critical lunar resources, including water and carbon dioxide
- Identify areas on the Moon that can support lunar volatiles that can impact human life and equipment
- Perform thermal site assessments for civil infrastructure on the Moon
- Perform large scale sub-surface geological analysis of the Moon
Find Out More
You can find out more about Interstellar Mapping’s thermal Lunar mapping solutions, here.
If you would like to explore this technology further for potential applications, please get in touch with us by emailing contactus@esa-technology-broker.co.uk.