The study of the spin-orbit and inner dynamics of the Moon: Lunar mission applications

Abstract

In view of the forthcoming Lunar mission SELENE (Japan) with geodetic experiments on board and with an optical telescope on the lunar north pole, a contribution of the theory of lunar rotation in order to study of inner dynamics is considered. Our present knowledge of the interior structure is reviewed, and it is shown how the data from SELENE can be used to improve this knowledge. The emphasis is put on the evidences of lunar core existence and on the necessity to take this fact into account in the lunar libration theory. It is considered, that in accordance with the general properties of resonant motion the synchronous satellites execute some free oscillations in the neighborhood of the stationary periodic solutions (in the neighborhood of Cassini's motion). The periods of these librations are evaluated. The model of the two-layer Moon gives several normal rotational modes; one of them - the Free Core Nutation (FCN) - can play an important role in the determination of the core's parameters. © 2005 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.