ShadowCam, an instrument funded by NASA, is hosted on the Korea
Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri, also known as Korea Pathfinder
Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) as part of international cooperation. Its purpose
is to gather high-resolution images of the Moon's permanently shadowed
regions (PSRs), which will provide valuable information regarding the
distribution of water ice and other volatiles.
The PSRs on
the Moon are never directly illuminated by sunlight and are only lit by
the reflection of nearby topographic features. Due to the extremely low
light levels in these regions, ShadowCam was designed to be over 200
times more sensitive than previous imagers, such as the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC). As a
result, ShadowCam will offer an unprecedented view of the shadows, but
it will saturate when imaging sunlit terrain.
PSRs could be
the most significant areas in the Solar System due to their potential
for containing cold-trapped volatiles. These resources could provide
essential resources to enable future exploration of the Moon and beyond.
With a spatial resolution of 1.7 meters per pixel, ShadowCam's images
will be crucial for mitigating risks and optimizing future exploration
activities.
Artist's concept of PSR observations by ShadowCam (Credit:
NASA)
(Ref.: http://www.shadowcam.asu.edu/)