Carbon compounds in Apollo 11 lunar samples

Are they entrapped solar wind particles, meteoritic or cometary contributions, remnants of a primordial atmosphere or products of the degassing of the Moon ?     

No evidence for thick deposits of ice at the lunar south pole

Shackleton crater at the Moon's south pole has been suggested as a possible site of concentrated deposits of water ice, on the basis of modelling of bi-static radar polarization properties and interpretations of earlier Earth-based radar images. This suggestion, and parallel assumptions about other topographic cold traps, is a significant element in planning for future lunar landings. Hydrogen enhancements have been identified in the polar regions, but these data do not identify the host species or its local distribution. The earlier Earth-based radar data lack the resolution and coverage for detailed studies of the relationship between radar scattering properties, cold traps in permanently shadowed areas, and local terrain features such as the walls and ejecta of small craters. Here we present new 20-m resolution, 13-cm-wavelength radar images that show no evidence for concentrated deposits of water ice in Shackleton crater or elsewhere at the south pole. The polarization properties normally associated with reflections from icy surfaces in the Solar System were found at all the observed latitudes and are strongly correlated with the rock-strewn walls and ejecta of young craters, including the inner wall of Shackleton. There is no correlation between the polarization properties and the degree of solar illumination. If the hydrogen enhancement observed by the Lunar Prospector orbiter indicates the presence of water ice, then our data are consistent with the ice being present only as disseminated grains in the lunar regolith.     

Late formation and prolonged differentiation of the Moon inferred from W isotopes in lunar metals

The Moon is thought to have formed from debris ejected by a giant impact with the early 'proto'-Earth and, as a result of the high energies involved, the Moon would have melted to form a magma ocean. The timescales for formation and solidification of the Moon can be quantified by using 182Hf-182W and 146Sm-142Nd chronometry, but these methods have yielded contradicting results. In earlier studies, 182W anomalies in lunar rocks were attributed to decay of 182Hf within the lunar mantle and were used to infer that the Moon solidified within the first approximately 60 million years of the Solar System. However, the dominant 182W component in most lunar rocks reflects cosmogenic production mainly by neutron capture of 181Ta during cosmic-ray exposure of the lunar surface, compromising a reliable interpretation in terms of 182Hf-182W chronometry. Here we present tungsten isotope data for lunar metals that do not contain any measurable Ta-derived 182W. All metals have identical 182W/184W ratios, indicating that the lunar magma ocean did not crystallize within the first approximately 60 Myr of the Solar System, which is no longer inconsistent with Sm-Nd chronometry. Our new data reveal that the lunar and terrestrial mantles have identical 182W/184W. This, in conjunction with 147Sm-143Nd ages for the oldest lunar rocks, constrains the age of the Moon and Earth to Myr after formation of the Solar System. The identical 182W/184W ratios of the lunar and terrestrial mantles require either that the Moon is derived mainly from terrestrial material or that tungsten isotopes in the Moon and Earth's mantle equilibrated in the aftermath of the giant impact, as has been proposed to account for identical oxygen isotope compositions of the Earth and Moon.     

146Sm-142Nd evidence from Isua metamorphosed sediments for early differentiation of the Earth's mantle

Application of the 147Sm-143Nd chronometer (half-life of 106 Gyr) suggests that large-scale differentiation of the Earth's mantle may have occurred during the first few hundred million years of its history. However, the signature of mantle depletion found in early Archaean rocks is often obscured by uncertainties resulting from open-system behaviour of the rocks during later high-grade metamorphic events. Hence, although strong hints exist regarding the presence of differentiated silicate reservoirs before 4.0 Gyr ago, both the nature and age of early mantle differentiation processes remain largely speculative. Here we apply short-lived 146Sm-142Nd chronometry (half-life of 103 Myr) to early Archaean rocks using ultraprecise measurement of Nd isotope ratios. The analysed samples are well-preserved metamorphosed sedimentary rocks from the 3.7-3.8-Gyr Isua greenstone belt of West Greenland. Our coupled isotopic calculations, combined with an initial epsilon 143Nd value from ref. 6, constrain the mean age of mantle differentiation to 4,460 +/- 115 Myr. This early Sm/Nd fractionation probably reflects differentiation of the Earth's mantle during the final stage of terrestrial accretion.     

Steering mechanical analysis for lunar rover wheel

Facing the requirement of establishing a steering mechanical model for the wheel configuration design, selection of steering motors, dynamic analysis and simulation of the lunar rover, shear force beneath the steering wheel, bulldozing resistance acting on steering wheel rims and side surfaces respectively are conducted on the basis of the wheel-loose soil interaction. The quantitative relation between steering resistance moment (SRM) and steering radius, dimension of the wheel, soil parameters is established. To validate the model, a single-wheel test bed is employed to test the steering performance of a wheel with 015735m radius and 0165m width when the steering radius is 000m, 004m, 008m, 012m and 016m, respectively. The SRM is approached asymptotically with the increasing steering angle and almost proportional to the steering radius. The theoretical results of SRM are compact with the experimental results, which shows that the steering model can predict the experimental results well.     

New evidence II for MDD model of thermal evolution history of Gangdese batholith

The cooling curves are obtained using specific⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar stage heating procedure and MDD modeling. In addition to the results of dating hornblende (K-Ar) and apatite (FT), the widespread existence of rapid cooling events has further been confirmed. A new knowledge of the starting time of Gangdese overthrust faulting in the east of Zedang, which was earlier in south and later in north is acquired.     

Acceleration of the rotation of asteroid 1862 Apollo by radiation torques

The anisotropic reflection and thermal re-emission of sunlight from an asteroid's surface acts as a propulsion engine. The net propulsion force (Yarkovsky effect) changes the orbital dynamics of the body at a rate that depends on its physical properties; for irregularly shaped bodies, the propulsion causes a net torque (the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack or YORP effect) that can change the object's rotation period and the direction of its rotation axis. The Yarkovsky effect has been observed directly, and there is also indirect evidence of its role in the orbital evolution of asteroids over long time intervals. So far, however, only indirect evidence exists for the YORP effect through the clustering of the directions of rotation axes in asteroid families. Here we report a change in the rotation rate of the asteroid 1862 Apollo, which is best explained by the YORP mechanism. The change is fairly large and clearly visible in photometric lightcurves, amounting to one extra rotation cycle in just 40 years even though Apollo's size is well over one kilometre. This confirms the prediction that the YORP effect plays a significant part in the dynamical evolution of asteroids.     

沙质环境中基于视觉的月球车定位方法

视觉里程计是月球车上重要的传感器之一,能够实现月球车在松软月面的定位,并对滑转率进行估计．针对沙质的月面模拟环境,为月球车开发了适应能力强的视觉里程算法．首先,研究基于形态学的图像增强算法以保证提取到足够多的特征点;其次,在对极线约束下实现角点的匹配,并且通过优化搜索窗口尺寸和预估搜索方向等方法提高匹配和跟踪的效率;再其次,采用随机抽样一致（RANSAC）算法进行运动估计,计算巡视器在6个自由度上的姿态变化;最后,在月面模拟场地对视觉里程算法进行试验,证明所提算法在特征稀少的环境中仍能保持较高的稳定性和定位精度．     

农历置闰月方法的解析

指出农历的历法要素与公历的历法要素的不同点.从数学角度对农历“19年7闰”的置闰方法进行详细的推演,即首先将农历平年与回归年的差值同朔望月时长的比值通过辗转相除表为连分数,逐次截取连分式,得一渐近分数序列.在渐近分数序列中选取适当的分数作为所求比值的近似值,由此就得到了农历的置闰方法.探讨农历复合置闰的可能性.指出由于传统农历的一些特殊约定,使得采用复合置闰变得价值不大     

月球表面光度行为的地域依赖性分析

月球表面光度行为描述了月表物质反射的太阳光随入射、出射和太阳相角的变化,它取决于月壤颗粒的粒径和形状、孔隙度、粗糙度等物理特性和矿物成分等化学性质．本文利用嫦娥一号干涉成像光谱仪（IIM）2A级辐亮度数据,基于太阳相角一辐亮度二维直方图统计,可将月球表面划分为两种光度行为迥异的地域类型,二者FeO含量分别与月海和高地的值大致吻合．高地（阿波罗16号着陆点）和月海（澄海）区域的IIM数据验证了该划分方法的合理性．本文提出的直接依据IIM2A级数据太阳相角一辐亮度二维直方图的划分方法,可以避免FeO含量划分月表光度单元中由于后期数据处理过程引入的误差．     

月球探测机器人移动系统的研究现状和发展趋势

综述了月球探测机器人移动系统的研究状况,分析了研究中存在的问题,并预测了它的发展趋势.     

月球探测机器人移动系统的研究现状和发展趋势

综述了月球探测机器人移动系统的研究状况,分析了研究中存在的问题,并预测了它的发展趋势。