Workshop on New Views of the Moon, Integrated Remotely Sensed, Geophysical, and Sample Datasets : Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, September 18-20, 1998

Abstract

The Lunar Prospector mission and the Clementine mission have provided clues to the real geological complexity of the Moon, and have shown that we still do not adequately understand the geologic history of the Moon. These missions, like Galileo during its lunar flyby, are providing global information viewed through new kinds of windows, and providing a fresh context for models of lunar origin, evolution, and resources, and perhaps even some grist for new questions and new hypotheses. The probable detection and characterization of water ice at the poles, the extreme concentration of Th and other radioactive elements in the Procellarum-Imbrium-Frigon's resurfaced areas of the nearside of the Moon, and the high-resolution gravity modeling enabled by these missions are examples of the kinds of results that must be integrated with the extant body of knowledge based on sample studies, in situ experiments, and remote-sensing missions to bring about the best possible understanding of the Moon and its history.