Water Ice Detection in Erlanger Crater: a Permanentatly Shadowed Region of Lunar North Pole

Permanently shaded areas located in close proximity to the lunar poles represent regions of extreme coldness that remain perpetually devoid of sunlight owing to the specific orientation of the Moon’s axis. These regions, which could contain significant amounts of water-ice, are crucial for future lunar exploration. The cold temperatures in PSRs allow for the freezing and trapping of volatiles, including water ice. Numerous studies have aimed to detect water ice in these areas, such as the Chandrayaan- 1 mission, which mapped the lunar surface and sought water deposits near the poles. This paper utilizes Moon Mineralogy Mapper data onboard Chandrayaan 1 and Mini-SAR instruments to detect water ice in and around the Erlanger crater situated at the lunar North Pole. The M3 hyperspectral images analyzed water ice absorption features, while image processing techniques and the Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) were used for mapping water ice deposits. Moreover, the application of Mini-SAR data aided in the measurement of Stokes parameters, which were subsequently utilized in decomposition techniques to differentiate scattering events inside and outside the crater.