I know quite a crater Plato is hit !

But this time we will leave it aside and focus on the area north of Rimae Plato .

The Constellation Program region of interest is located in the northeast portion of the ejecta blanket of Plato

In Figure 1 we have a picture of the regional context for M104554343R . The large crater left is Plato , the white boxes indicate the Constellation Region of Interest, and long yellow polygon indicates the outline size full M104554343R ) .

This area seems to be empty , and for an untrained eye , possibly seem unexciting . However , nothing could be further from the truth. The intent of human exploration in the region is to explore a possible pyroclastic deposit . Radar studies of the region , together with the spectroscopic evidence of U.S. Clementine mission indicate that this region may be covered with pyroclastic materials . As an added bonus , there is a large sinuous rille ( Figure 2 ) , possibly related to the pyroclastic deposit , south of Constellation location , close enough that astronauts could explore it using a simple robot .

Pyroclastic deposits consist of small volcanic glassy spheres that exist in the mantle of the surrounding terrain , produced by the fiery explosion of volcanic eruptions billions of years ago , when the moon was more geologically active . When magma cools rapidly , the atoms do not have time to form ordered structures (minerals ) for a result of glass. Pyroclastic glasses are really the most primitive ( ie , unmodified by later geological processes ) materials in the lunar sample collection . The study of pyroclastic materials in the collection geochemical Apollo gave valuable information about the composition and evolution of the lunar interior . However , there are relatively few pyroclastic materials in the current collection , and the Apollo samples themselves are not representative of the entire lunar surface from a geological point of view . The exxploração lunar man is needed to complete our understanding of the formation and history of the moon .

Pyroclastic deposits are potentially some of the most valuable resources to support human lunar habitation . Processing pyroclastic materials can provide relatively easy access to oxygen and water for future lunar explorers . Human exploration of this site will allow access to these important resources , as well as provide important information on the nature of pyroclastic materials and the potential regions of origin of these volcanic eruptions .

Source : LROC / NASA - adaptation Avani Soares

Smaller images : credit LROC

Photo stacked from 185 frames with AS ! 2

Postprocessing using Photofiltre