SMART-1 diagnoses wrinkles and excess weight on the Moon Owing
to SMART-1’s high resolution and favourable illumination
conditions during the satellite’s scientific operations, data
from Europe’s lunar orbiter is helping put together a story
linking geological and volcanic activity on the Moon. The
combination of high-resolution data from SMART-1’s AMIE micro-
camera and data from the US Clementine mission is helping
scientists determine the tectonics of the Moon’s giant basins
and the history of volcanic flooding of mid-sized craters,
inside and around the lunar basins. “Thanks to low-elevation
solar illumination on these high-resolution images”, says
SMART-1 Project Scientist Bernard Foing, “it is now possible to
study fine, small-scale geological features that went undetected
earlier.” The study provides new information on the thermal and
tectonic history of the Moon and the processes following the
formation of the large basins. There are approximately 50
recognizable lunar basins more than 300 km in diamet