LRO Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) Far-UV Mapping Results and Support for Artemis.

Far-ultraviolet (FUV) surface reflectance measurements of the Moon, asteroids, icy satellites, comets and Mercury have proven surprisingly useful for advancing our understanding of planetary surfaces, expanding the primary uses of UV instruments beyond investigating planetary atmospheres and auroral processes. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) has contributed greatly to this new appreciation for planetary FUV imaging spectroscopy thanks to its 17 years of investigations. LRO-LAMP FUV spectral-imaging has enabled detailed spectral maps of the lunar dayside, nightside, and permanently shaded regions (PSRs) and are useful in the context of numerous properties not originally understood prior to LRO’s launch in 2009.

Detailed FUV spectral analyses (Gladstone et al. 2012), supplemented by laboratory efforts (Raut et al. 2018), investigate regolith structure/porosity and the relative aging of surface features by space weathering (Mandt et al. 2016; Byron et al. 2019; Byron et al. 2020; Cahill et al. 2019; Liu et al. 2018). Global searches of water signatures both inside (Magaña et al. 2022, 2023, 2024) and diurnal variations in hydration features outside of lunar PSRs (Hendrix et al. 2012; Hendrix et al. 2019) are allowing us to confirm and elucidate the findings of surface water/hydroxyl and its variability. These analyses support each other and advance the identification of compositional signatures in regolith (i.e., feldspar-rich highlands, Czajka et al. 2023; lunar swirls, Henrix et al. 2016). 

See the QuickMap (https://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu) tool for a nearside view of LAMP dayside Off-band/On-band albedo ratio maps examples https://bit.ly/3n8PWGj and the Reiner-Gamma region with optical swirl boundaries https://bit.ly/3n69qeL.

The LRO Extended Science Mission 6 (ESM6) is focused on supporting the overall Artemis program. It enables more surface reflectance data at a variety of incidence and emission angles to improve signal, spectral, and photometric quality and to further develop our innovative UV reflectance techniques (Davis et al. 2017) – albeit with reduced performance at long wavelengths, following microchannel plate wear and tear. Ongoing laboratory studies are constraining the compositional and photometric properties of lunar samples and simulant analogs (Gimar et al. 2025). Observations of comets (Magaña et al. 2022), the interplanetary medium (Pryor et al. 2022, 2023, 2024), the lunar exosphere (e.g., Grava et al. 2021) and other targets are planned for ESM6, in addition to support of, and landing gas-plume imaging of, the exciting series of upcoming lunar missions, as available. Four targeted observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS were obtained in November-December 2025, detecting the extended envelope of escaping neutral hydrogen atoms.