ShadowCam • Seeing in the Shadows

About the Project(current)
Featured Images(current)
Recent News(current)

©ShadowCam 2023 •
NASA • KARI • SESE

Featured Image

Spudis Crater PSR

Detail of the permanently shadowed region (PSR) within Spudis crater. The scalloped dark-to-light boundary shows the contact between a landslide and slump material at the bottom of the crater; the image is 2200 meters wide, ShadowCam ...

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Recent News

ShadowCam Cruises Through Dark

A sequence of five calibration images, or dark images, acquired by ShadowCam while looking into deep space during its cruise to the Moon onboard the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft. ShadowCam calibration ...

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Nadir view of PSR Erlanger crater

ShadowCam

Seeing in the Shadows

ShadowCam is based on the successful Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) and is approximately 200 times more sensitive than the current NAC, which will allow scientists to see into the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) surrounding the Moon's poles.

Lunar south pole illumination map

What are PSRs?

Permanently Shadowed Regions

Permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) may be the most valuable real estate in the Solar System, with the potential for cold-trapped volatiles, which could provide essential resources to enable future exploration of the Moon and beyond.

Illustrated view of ShadowCam seeing in the shadowed portion of a PSR

The Mission

NASA, ASU, and KARI

NASA selected ShadowCam as a contribution to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s (KARI) first lunar exploration mission, Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO). ShadowCam will address three of four Strategic Knowledge Gaps and join four other KARI-developed instruments onboard KPLO.