Summary:
Scientific knowledge of lunar lithologies was first acquired in the 1960s–1970s. The space race between the United States (U. S.) and Soviet Union has promoted numerous manned and robotic lunar exploration missions. Utilizing datasets from these missions, the first series of lunar geologic maps was prepared and published by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS). The definition of lunar geological features in these maps was mostly based on morphological characteristics but lacked lithological constraints owing to the incompleteness of the compositional datasets available. After two decades of silence, a new era of lunar exploration began in the 1990s when the Galileo spacecraft flew by the Moon during its gravity-assisted maneuvers. The very successful orbital missions, the Clementine and Lunar Prospector (LP), provided the first global geochemical and mineralogical (multispectral, gamma ray, neutron, etc.) datasets of the lunar surface. The 21st century is an exciting era for lunar exploration. Various missions were carried out by space agencies in Europe, Japan, India, and the U.S. China started its lunar exploration program in 2004 and has already launched two orbital missions [i.e., Chang’e-1 (CE-1) and CE-2]. These orbiting, landing, and roving missions collect diverse datasets that enable integrated research on lunar surface materials, improve our understanding of lunar magmatic evolution, and provide primary sources for this lithological mapping effort. A systematic classification scheme for endogenic lunar lithologies was reconstructed to map the compositional distribution and magmatic evolution of the lunar surface. The remote sensing datasets were compiled and integrated using Geographic Information System software to build a unified database of lunar lithologic distribution, on which subsequent lunar geologic mapping and review of lunar geologic history were based. The lessons learned from this effort are expected to be applied to other planets and small bodies in the future.
All the Authors:
Jianzhong Liu,Shengbo Chen,Xiaozhong Ding,Jianping Chen,Weiming Cheng,Bo Li,Jiang Zhang,Lingzhi Sun,Changqing Liu,Haijun Cao,Xiangyu Bi,Li Liu,Sheng Wan,Xiaobin Qi,Zixu Zhao,Dijun Guo,Jinzhu Ji,Jingwen Liu,Juntao Wang,Ke Zhang,Jingyi Zhang,Pengju Sun,Kai Zhu,Tianqi Lu,Congzhe Wu,Kunying Han,Kejuan Xu,Ming Jin,Ying Wang,Cheng Zhang,Jiayin Deng,Yang Song,Ziyuan Ouyang
CN
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