Potential sample sites for South Pole-Aitken basin impact melt within the Schrödinger basin

- Maps the distribution of South Pole-Aitken impact melt.
- Identifies outcrops with 20-30% SPA impact melt in Schrödinger's southern wall.
- Identifies destinations for the Global Exploration Roadmap's sample return mission.
- Results address the top two science priorities identified by the lunar community.

Determining the age of the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin ranks among the highest priorities in lunar science. This datum would constrain the timing of the oldest and largest basin-forming event on the Moon, information that is essential to any evaluation of the collisional evolution of the early Solar System. To locate material that preserves the age of SPA, a geochemical model of SPA impact melt is integrated with chemical and mineralogical analyses of the lunar surface determined from orbit. Results suggest the southern wall of Schrödinger basin contains material with the mineralogical and geochemical signatures of SPA melt and, thus, represents a candidate destination for sampling material that can constrain the age of the SPA impact.