ISOCHRON (spacecraft)
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Names | Inner SOlar system CHRONogy |
---|---|
Mission type | Lunar sample-return |
Operator | NASA |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 2025 (proposed) [1] |
Moon lander | |
Landing site | South of Aristarchus plateau [1] [2] |
Sample mass | 150 g (5.3 oz) [1] |
ISOCHRON (Inner SOlar system CHRONogy) is a proposed lunar sample-return mission that would retrieve samples of the youngest lunar mare basalt .
This robotic mission was proposed in July 2019 to NASA 's Discovery Program . [1] [2] It was not shortlisted.
Overview
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Location_of_lunar_aristarchus_crater.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Aristarchus_and_Herodotus_craters_Apollo_15.jpg/220px-Aristarchus_and_Herodotus_craters_Apollo_15.jpg)
ISOCHRON would address fundamental questions about the composition of the lunar crust and the time-stratigraphy of lunar volcanic processes, with implications for all of the terrestrial planets. [2] There is a stretch of nearly 2 billion years of lunar history that planetary scientists have not been able to date because the Apollo missions did not retrieve any young rocks. [1] Lunar mare basalts formed through partial melting of the mantle , thus serve as probes of the structure and composition of the interior . [2] The stated scientific objective of the mission is: "[To] make high-precision radiometric age measurements on these relatively young basalts to fill the existing gap in age-correlated crater size-frequency distributions (CSFDs), thereby greatly improving this widely-used tool for estimating the ages of exposed surfaces on rocky bodies." [2]
The proposed ISOCHRON mission concept would have a robotic lander land just south of Aristarchus plateau and retrieve about 150 g (5.3 oz) of a basalt sample estimated to be 1.5 to 2.0 billion years old. [2] The sample would be placed in a small container, launched to Earth, and it would be curated at NASA's Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility .
The Principal Investigator is Dave Draper, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas. [1]
Location
The sample would be obtained from the Aristarchus plateau, located in the midst of the Oceanus Procellarum , a large expanse of lunar mare . This is a tilted crustal block, about 200 km across, that rises to a maximum elevation of 2 km above the mare in the southeastern section. [3]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Meghan Bartels (March 25, 2019) NASA Needs Fresh Moon Rocks. This Sample-Return Mission Could Get Them. Space .
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D. S. Draper, R. L. Klima, S. J. Lawrenc1, B. W. Denevi, and the ISOCHRON Team (2019).
"The Inner Solar System Chronology (ISOCHRON) Discovery Mission: Returning Samples of the Youngest Lunar Mare Basalts"
(PDF)
.
50th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
. 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2132): 1110.
Bibcode
:
2019LPI....50.1110D
.
{{ cite journal }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link ) Poster - ↑ "Aristarchus Region: Multispectral Mosaic of the Aristarchus Crater and Plateau" . Lunar and Planetary Institute . Retrieved 2006-08-08 .
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