The Clementine Bistatic Radar Experiment
- 29 November 1996
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 274 (5292), 1495-1498
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5292.1495
Abstract
During the Clementine 1 mission, a bistatic radar experiment measured the magnitude and polarization of the radar echo versus bistatic angle, β, for selected lunar areas. Observations of the lunar south pole yield a same-sense polarization enhancement around β = 0. Analysis shows that the observed enhancement is localized to the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole. Radar observations of periodically solar-illuminated lunar surfaces, including the north pole, yielded no such enhancement. A probable explanation for these differences is the presence of low-loss volume scatterers, such as water ice, in the permanently shadowed region at the south pole.Keywords
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