[X] My Assistant

[P Hayne]

Here is a video of the press conference today (9/17/2009):
http://www.youtube.com/profile?v=59aaOW33a...=NASAtelevision

And here is a link to the press release:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/sep/H...irst_Light.html

A link to the fascinating results for the south polar region from the instrument I work on, Diviner:
http://www.diviner.ucla.edu/blog/?p=123

Within the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles, Diviner has recorded the what could be the coldest natural temperatures in the Solar System. Further mapping by LRO, along with the results from LCROSS, may reveal important volatiles like water and possibly organic molecules are trapped in these frigid confines.

PH

[marsbug]

Many thanks! If I could bombard you with questions for a minute...
Which zones of temperature are expected to cold trap which volatiles? For example the press release mentions that the 35K temperature of the permanantly shadowed regions is more than cold enough to trap H2O, so what other things might be trapped?

I have read somwhere that the regolith temperature at 1 meter depth beneath the poles, even where the surface recieves sunlight, is expected to be around 40K. Does this have a bearing on the quantities of volatiles expected to be trapped by the permanantly shadowed regions- ie might subsurface cold trapping get most of the migrating volatiles before they reach the permanantly shadowed polar craters?