OSIRIS-REx Visible and Near-Infrared Observations of the Moon

  • A. A. Simon
  • , K. L. Donaldson Hanna
  • , C. Y. Drouet d'Aubigny
  • , G. Poggiali
  • , J. P. Emery
  • , J. Brucato
  • , R. G. Cosentino
  • , D. C. Reuter
  • , D. R. Golish
  • , D. N. DellaGiustina
  • , A. Lunsford
  • , N. Gorius
  • , P. H. Smith
  • , D. S. Lauretta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission observed the Moon during the spacecraft's Earth gravity assist in 2017. From the spacecraft view, the lunar phase was 42°, and the in-view hemisphere was dominated by anorthositic highlands terrain. Lunar spectra obtained by the OSIRIS-REx Visible and InfraRed Spectrometer show evidence of several candidate absorption features. We observe the 2.8-μm hydration band, confirming the spectral results from other missions, but detected in full-disk spectra. We also tentatively identify weak spectral features near 0.9 and 1.3 μm, consistent with lunar regolith containing a mixture of plagioclase and orthopyroxene minerals, as expected for highlands terrain.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6322-6326
Number of pages5
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume46
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 28 2019

Keywords

  • (101955) Bennu
  • Moon
  • OSIRIS-REx

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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