Resources: Lunar Helium-3 Economics

Maps of epithermal- and fast-neutron fluxes measured by Lunar Prospector were used to search for deposits enriched in hydrogen at both lunar poles. Depressions in epithermal fluxes were observed close to permanently shaded areas at both poles. The peak depression at the North Pole is 4.6 percent below the average epithermal flux intensity at lower latitudes, and that at the South Pole is 3.0 percent below the low-latitude average. No measurable depression in fast neutrons is seen at either pole. These data are consistent with deposits of hydrogen in the form of water ice that are covered by as much as 40 centimeters of desiccated regolith within permanently shaded craters near both poles. Show more

Lunar Prospector gamma-ray spectrometer spectra along with counting rate maps of thorium, potassium, and iron delineate large compositional variations over the lunar surface. Thorium and potassium are highly concentrated in and around the nearside western maria and less so in the South Pole-Aitken basin. Counting rate maps of iron gamma-rays show a surface iron distribution that is in general agreement with other measurements from Clementine and the Lunar Prospector neutron detectors. Show more