| Title: |
Remote Compositional Analyses of Space-weathered Lunar Maria |
| Authors: |
Ji-In Jung; Mathieu G. A. Lapôtre; Ralph E. Milliken; Sarah E. Minson |
| Source: |
The Planetary Science Journal, Vol 7, Iss 1, p 18 (2026) |
| Publisher Information: |
IOP Publishing |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
| Subject Terms: |
Lunar maria; Infrared spectroscopy; Remote sensing; Space weather; Spectroscopy; Lunar mineralogy; Astronomy; QB1-991 |
| Description: |
Visible-to-shortwave infrared (VSWIR) reflectance spectroscopy has revolutionized our understanding of planetary surface compositions. However, space-weathering processes on airless bodies complicate quantitative compositional analyses. Here, we present a framework to isolate the signatures of space weathering in VSWIR spectra of lunar maria by leveraging radiative transfer modeling under the assumptions that (i) a space-weathered target can be expressed as a mixture of fresh and fully space-weathered components and (ii) remaining signatures can be modeled by including agglutinates as an end-member component. We first validate this approach against laboratory spectra of space-weathered Apollo mare soils of known mineral compositions using a probabilistic Markov Chain Monte Carlo implementation of the Hapke radiative transfer model. Second, we illustrate how this approach can be applied to orbital Moon Mineralogy Mapper data. The proposed space-weathering correction workflow for lunar maria could be expanded to other lunar lithologies and applied to existing and future data sets. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ae2b57; https://doaj.org/toc/2632-3338; https://doaj.org/article/155ab00b3c5d41419852a64346f3f4e9 |
| DOI: |
10.3847/PSJ/ae2b57 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ae2b57; https://doaj.org/article/155ab00b3c5d41419852a64346f3f4e9 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.C7BCC1B9 |
| Database: |
BASE |