Atlas (crater)

Atlas

Mosaic of Lunar Orbiter 4 images
Coordinates	46°42′N44°24′E / 46.7°N 44.4°E / 46.7; 44.4
Diameter	87 km
Depth	2.0 km
Colongitude	316° at sunrise
Eponym	Atlas

Oblique view of Atlas and Hercules from Apollo 16

Atlas (center right) and Hercules (center left) Lunar craters

Atlas and Hercules at center, near the terminator as viewed from Earth

Atlas is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located in the northeast part of the Moon, to the southeast of Mare Frigoris. Just to the west is the slightly smaller but still prominent crater Hercules. Northeast of Atlas is the large crater Endymion.

The inner wall of Atlas is multiply terraced and the edge slumped, forming a sharp-edged lip. This is a floor-fractured crater with a rough and hilly interior that has a lighter albedo than the surroundings. Floor-fractures are usually created as a result of volcanic modifications.

There are two dark patches along the inner edge of the walls; one along the north edge and another besides the southeast edges. A system of slender clefts named the Rimae Atlas crosses the crater floor, and were created by volcanism. Along the north and northeastern inner sides are a handful of dark-halo craters, most likely due to eruptions. Around the midpoint is a cluster of low central hills arranged in a circular formation.

Atlas is a crater of Upper (Late) Imbrian age. ^[1]

The name Atlas was formally recognized by the IAU in 1935. ^[2]

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Atlas.

Atlas	Latitude	Longitude	Diameter
A	45.3° N	49.6° E	22 km
D	50.4° N	49.6° E	25 km
E	48.6° N	42.5° E	58 km
G	50.7° N	46.5° E	23 km
L	51.3° N	48.6° E	6 km
P	49.6° N	52.7° E	27 km
W	44.4° N	44.2° E	4 km
X	45.1° N	45.0° E	5 km

Exploration

The Atlas crater was the primary landing site of the Hakuto-R Mission 1 by ispace, that launched on December 11, 2022. ^[3] separating from the rocket 47 minutes later at a distance around 970 kilometres (600 mi) away from Earth. ^{[4] [ verification needed ]} If it had been successful, this mission would have been the first private landing on the lunar surface, ^[5] and would have been the first Japanese probe to land on the Moon.

Communication with Hakuto-R Mission 1 was lost during the final moments of descent to the lunar surface at 16:40 UTC (00:40 JST) on 25 April 2023. ^{[4] [ verification needed ]} The iSpace team confirmed that the $90 million dollar spacecraft had most likely crashed during its landing on the Moon. Analysis determined that the lander plummeted uncontrollably when the propellant was exhausted. This happened because the onboard computer wrongly assumed the radar altimeter was faulty, and ignoring its data, misjudged the actual altitude of the spacecraft and kept hovering 5 kilometers above the surface of the Moon. ^{[4] [6] [7]}

References

1. The geologic history of the Moon. USGS Professional Paper 1348. By Don E. Wilhelms, John F. McCauley, and Newell J. Trask. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1987. Table 11.2.
2. "Atlas (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
3. Swift, Rocky (13 April 2023). "Japan's ispace launches commercial moon lander, in potential world first". Reuters.
4. "Status Update on ispace Hakuto-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander". ispace. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
5. Crane, Leah (28 November 2022). "Japanese firm ispace is racing to put first private lander on the moon". New Scientist. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
6. "Japan Spacecraft Believed to Have Crashed on Moon During Landing". Bloomberg.com. 2023-04-25. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
7. 日本放送協会. "月面着陸 開発の民間企業が会見 "途中で燃料がつきて落下か"". NHKニュース. Retrieved 2023-04-27.

• Wood, Chuck (2005-04-03). "Atlas Alone". Lunar Photo of the Day. Archived from the original on 2006-05-14. Retrieved 2006-07-21.
• "SMART-1 image of crater Atlas". ESA/SPACE X. 2006-02-03. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
• Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A. (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097.
• Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS . Retrieved 2007-08-05.
• Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-81528-4.
• Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN   978-0-936389-27-1.
• McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature". Jonathan's Space Report . Retrieved 2007-10-24.
• Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews. 12 (2): 136–186. Bibcode:1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763. S2CID   122125855.
• Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN   978-0-304-35469-6.
• Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-33500-3.
• Rükl, Antonín (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN   978-0-913135-17-4.
• Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revised ed.). Dover. ISBN   978-0-486-20917-3.
• Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-62248-6.
• Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN   978-1-85233-193-1.

External links

• Media related to Atlas (crater) at Wikimedia Commons
• Pyroclastic deposits in Atlas crater from USGS Astrogeology Science Center (Clementine 750-nm (albedo) data)