26 May 2015

SSERVI PI David Kring of the Center for Lunar Science and Exploration (CLSE) at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, TX has generated a new video and soundtrack that illustrates features that might be explored by a human-assisted sample-return mission to the Schrodinger basin within the South Pole-Aitken basin.
You can play the video from within your internet browser. However, to see the full HD resolution of the lunar surface imagery, you will want to download the HD version from the website and play it on your computer. A complete list of flyovers is available at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/lunar_flyovers/.
The lunar farside — that mysterious face of the Moon hidden from Earth – contains a cache of clues about how the Earth formed, how planets evolved, and how volcanic and impact cratering processes reshaped the Solar System. The farside of the Moon holds the key to the earliest bombardment of the Earth and whether impact cratering processes were involved in the origin and earliest evolution of life on Earth.
The oldest and largest impact basin on the Moon is nearly 2,500 kilometers in diameter and stretches from the South Pole to a tiny crater called Aitken. This South Pole-Aitken basin (also called SPA basin) is one of the leading targets for human and human-assisted robotic exploration. A particularly rich scientific and exploration target within that basin is the Schrödinger basin, about 320 kilometers in diameter, and located towards the south polar end of the South Pole-Aitken basin.
Scientists and engineers are already designing the methods for a mission to Schrödinger that collects samples and brings their extraordinary secrets back to Earth for study. To give you a perspective of this mission, we have created a video and soundtrack that carries you to the Moon, around the South Pole-Aitken basin, and to a first landing site within the Schrödinger basin. We hope this is the first step in an exhilarating mission of discovery.
The flyover movie was conceptualized and produced by Dr. David A. Kring. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera data was assembled and rendered by Dr. Debra M. Hurwitz. Modeling and animation were implemented by John Blackwell. The music is from "Darkest Night" by Pond5.