AIME For The Moon....And Beyond Highlands Intermediate School 08-0012

Introduction                Landing                Design                Future                Bibliography

Landing Site      AIME will land on Malapert Mountain because it is 122 kilometers from the South Pole.  From its height, the rover will have a good view of the lunar South Pole region.  Its summit has a fairly large area of somewhat level terrain that could provide a decent landing site.  Lunar researchers believe there is a 6° down slope to the west-north west that would give easy access to and from surrounding points at lower elevations.[3]      The primary reason for landing here is because scientists believe the South and North Poles are two possible sites with water ice.  On the floor of the huge 12 km deep South Pole-Aitken basin near Malapert Mountain, there are many small, deep craters that are never exposed to sunlight.  The temperature in these permanently shadowed regions never exceeds -280°F, leading to the possibility of water ice left from comet impacts.  In 1994, the Clementine’s Bistatic Radar experiment beamed radio waves on the moon.  The radio echo from the shadowed regions of the South Pole showed reflection patterns suggestive of water ice.  Then in July 1999, the Lunar Prospector crashed into the nearby Shoemaker crater.  Before it crashed, it measured the amount of hydrogen on the surface of the moon using a neutron spectrometer.  A significant amount of hydrogen is indirect evidence of the presence of water ice.  The data from the Lunar Prospector showed a 3% signature over the South Pole which is a strong indication of water ice.  Here, AIME will search for water ice, remnants of the Lunar Prospector in the Shoemaker Crater, and mooncast images of them back to earth.[18,22]      Another reason for landing on Malapert Mountain is because the sun is always above the horizon daily except for 35 to 40 days a year.  Due to its proximity to the South Pole and its elevation (5,000m), Malapert Mountain gets constant sunlight 89% of the time and for 5 or 6 months it is in continuous full sunlight 24 hours a day, providing nonstop energy.[3]  This also leads to less extreme fluctuations in temperature due to the absence of cold nights, decreasing the chances of AIME’s circuits freezing.[2]      The third reason for landing here is because it is in constant view of Earth.  This enables continuous direct line of sight communication relay, allowing the rover to send near-real time mooncasts back to earth.[3]      AIME will be landing at noon in the beginning of summer when the sun is the highest and the mountain’s surface is insolated in sunlight 100% of the time, providing 24 hours of power for 5 to 6 months.  This is more than enough solar energy to enable AIME to roam over 5000m as it searches for water ice.