In a joint effort, the American and South Korean space agencies successfully photographed the Moon’s south pole using the LRO and Danuri probes. Flying over Shakleton Crater, the two devices provide researchers with a detailed snapshot of the region.
In the heart of the desolate valleys at the Moon’s south pole rise the prominent ridges of Shakleton Crater, 13 miles (21 kilometers) in diameter. By flying over this region of our natural satellite, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Danuri probes were able to photograph the vast area in detail. NASA and the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (Kari) published the photo on the American agency’s website on September 19.
The teamwork of the American and Korean probes
Since its launch in 2009, LRO has accustomed us to particularly magnificent photos of the lunar surface. But the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) that the probe is equipped with, whose technology dates back to the last decade, is struggling to capture the darkest areas of the moon. That’s where Danuri comes into play, which came onto the market in 2022 and has the ShadowCam on board.
Thanks to the sensitivity of its sensors, which is almost 200 times higher than that of LROC, ShadowCam is able to photograph regions of the moon that were previously invisible because they were too dark. The counterpart to this advantage? The instrument cannot capture images of areas illuminated by sunlight. The moon’s already blinding whiteness oversaturates the images, making them unreadable to space engineers on Earth. However, by combining the photos taken by LRO and Danuri, we obtain nuanced photos that allow us to see both the illuminated regions and those frozen in the dark.
This is a significant advantage for researchers: the moon’s south pole becomes visible in more detail and provides visual clues to its topography. Scientists are continuing to try to determine whether blocks of ice remain at the satellite’s poles, 300,000 kilometers from Earth’s atmosphere.