There are regions of the Moon in perpetual shadow and about which we know very little. Artificial intelligence is going to "glow up"

On the Moon there are places in perpetual shadow and extreme cold. We finally know how to “light them up”: with artificial intelligence (AI).

It’s not all deepfakes and delusional images in the broad realms of artificial intelligence. Some have used it to guide ships and planes, create music, texts, monologues or even election programs. For having, there are those who are even convinced that, in their own way, they have a certain degree of consciousness. Now an international team led by ETH Zurich has found another application for it, no less exciting: “illuminate” the darkest places on the Moon.

Although over the last few decades we have managed to gather enough data on the origin and characteristics of the Moon, our satellite still holds some mysteries that continue to fascinate us. Perhaps one of the regions that calls us the most is its south pole, a “challenging place” —according to NASA— with “unique features that promise unprecedented scientific discoveries.”

Specifically, we are attracted by its spaces in perpetual shadow, craters out of reach of sunlight and in which freezing temperatures are recorded, even more so than in Pluto’s surface.

a fascinating region

“The towering mountains cast dark shadows and the deep craters shelter the perpetual darkness of their abysses. Some harbor permanently shadowed regions that have not seen sunlight in billions of years and experience temperatures as low as -203ºC”, illustrates nasa. With these characteristics they represent a real challenge for lunar missions.

At the ETH Zurich they have just taken a valuable step to better understand these spaces.

How? With two great tools, basically: the data collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) and artificial intelligence. Since 2009, LROC has been using its three cameras to capture high-resolution images of the satellite’s surface, a unique material that researchers have now been able to squeeze like never before.

“The camera captures photons bouncing off the shadowed regions from adjacent mountains and crater walls. Now, with the help of artificial intelligence, the team has managed to make such efficient use of this data that previously dark areas become visible.” comments the swiss center. The results have just been published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Beyond satisfying our curiosity… Why is this information interesting? What does it give us? Well, data on what we can find at the lunar south pole and how to approach it.

The frigid temperatures and their perpetual shadows —comments ETH Zurich— make these craters places of special interest for science: “in this extreme cold, water vapor and other volatile substances can be trapped or frozen inside or even on the lunar soil. This potential makes the shadowed crater floors intriguing sites.”

The ice could offer key clues to how water integrates into the Earth-Moon system and a valuable resource for missions that reach the satellite in the future, which could use it for consumption, as protection or even as a propellant. The possibilities are so interesting that one of the aspects that the team of researchers led from ETH Zurich has focused on was precisely looking for water ice in the shaded areas.

The work has not shown it in these lunar points, although their existence, remember the center, has been tested by other instruments. “There is no evidence of pure ice on the surface within the shaded areas, which implies that any ice must be mixed with lunar soil or be below the surface,” says Valentin Bickel, researcher at the institution and lead author.

The results of the ETH Zurich also serve another no less important objective, especially considering that the Artemis Program has set its sights on the lunar south pole: to help us plan our future missions. His work is in fact part of an exhaustive investigation that aims to determine possible landing points for Artemis.

“These new findings will allow precise planning of routes to and through the permanently shadowed regions, greatly reducing the risks to Artemis astronauts and robotic explorers. Thanks to the new images, astronauts can target specific locations to take samples and assess the distribution of ice.”

One of the first to benefit from your data could be the robotic mission Intuitive Machines Mission 2scheduled for the spring 2023 and will serve for the collection of samples.

Pictures | NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University Y ETH Zürich