This stunning mosaic of the Moon’s south pole was assembled using images captured by NASA’s LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and from ShadowCam, a NASA instrument onboard a KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) spacecraft called Danuri. LROC is capable of capturing detailed images of the lunar surface, but is limited when observing the shadowed parts of the Moon that never receive direct sunlight.
Why ShadowCam? This instrument is 200-times more light-sensitive than LROC and can operate successfully in extremely low-light conditions, as it relies on sunlight reflected off lunar geologic features or the Earth to capture images in the shadows. This also means that ShadowCam has trouble with parts of the Moon that are directly illuminated since they result in saturated results.
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With ShadowCam, NASA can image permanently shadowed regions of the Moon in greater detail than previously possible, giving scientists a much better view of the lunar South Pole region. This area has never been explored by humans and is of great interest for science and exploration because it is thought to contain ice deposits or other frozen volatiles.,” said the agency.
