{
    "count": 4,
    "next": null,
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    "results": [
        {
            "id": 4057,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4057/",
            "result_type": "Visualization",
            "release_date": "2013-03-25T00:00:00-04:00",
            "title": "LEND Looks for Water at the South Pole",
            "description": "Since Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) entered lunar orbit in 2009, its neutron detector, LEND, has been counting the neutrons coming from the Moon's surface.Neutrons are created when galactic cosmic rays strike atoms in the lunar regolith. These neutrons bounce from atom to atom like billiard balls, losing energy with each collision. Along the way, some of these neutrons escape into space, where LEND can detect them.The presence of hydrogen in the lunar soil reduces the number of neutrons that escape. To map out likely deposits of water ice, LEND scientists look for this deficit of neutrons in the epithermal (medium) energy range.If the deficit were simply due to random fluctuations, the hydrogen map would never coalesce into a sharp image, but as this animation shows, the map of epithermal neutron deficit at the south pole of the Moon improves over time and converges on particular spots. These include especially strong signals in the permanently shadowed parts of Cabeus and Shoemaker craters, where ice would be completely shielded from the sun. But LEND and other missions have found signs of water in places that aren't permanently shadowed while apparently excluding some places that are, both of which are surprising and exciting discoveries. || ",
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        },
        {
            "id": 4043,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4043/",
            "result_type": "Visualization",
            "release_date": "2013-03-06T11:00:00-05:00",
            "title": "LRO Peers into Permanent Shadows",
            "description": "The Moon's permanently shadowed regions, or PSRs, are places on the Moon that haven't seen the Sun in millions, or even billions, of years. The Earth's tilted axis allows sunlight to fall everywhere on its surface, even at the poles, for at least part of the year. But the Moon's tilt relative to the Sun is only 1.6°, not enough to get sunlight into some deep craters near the lunar north and south poles. PSRs are therefore some of the coldest, darkest places in the solar system.Because of that, PSRs are expected to be excellent traps for volatiles, chemicals that would normally vaporize and escape into space, and this includes water. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) includes several instruments designed to peer into the PSR darkness and measure temperature, reflectivity, and neutron absorption, all of which are clues to what chemicals might be hiding there. This animation shows where the PSRs are and in what ways LRO can see inside them. || ",
            "hits": 330
        },
        {
            "id": 3760,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3760/",
            "result_type": "Visualization",
            "release_date": "2010-10-21T13:55:00-04:00",
            "title": "LRO Supports LCROSS",
            "description": "Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) were launched together on the same Atlas V rocket on June 18, 2009. Months later, after following very different paths to the moon, LRO and LCROSS met once more. LCROSS struck the floor of Cabeus crater, near the south pole of the moon, at 11:31 UT on October 9, 2009. LRO witnessed the impact from its orbit 50 kilometers (30 miles) above the surface.The purpose of the crash was to create a plume of debris that could be examined for the presence of water and other chemicals in the lunar regolith. LRO's early reconnaissance of the moon gave LCROSS mission planners valuable data in the months before LCROSS arrived, allowing them to choose an impact site with a high probability of producing interesting findings. LRO was also there for the event itself, using its array of instruments to gather data in the aftermath of the impact.This animation shows LRO and LCROSS from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after the impact. Data gathered before the impact is represented by early results from LRO's Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND). LEND can sense hydrogen, and therefore possible water, in the lunar soil. The area of high hydrogen concentration in Cabeus (purple) is like a bullseye for LCROSS.Data gathered by LRO after the impact is represented by Diviner temperature measurements taken seconds after the crash. Diviner detected the heat from lunar soil melted and vaporized by the enormous energy of the impact. || ",
            "hits": 48
        },
        {
            "id": 3690,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3690/",
            "result_type": "Visualization",
            "release_date": "2010-03-28T00:00:00-04:00",
            "title": "Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Releases Data to the Planetary Data System",
            "description": "On March 15, 2010, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) released its first installment of scientific data to NASA's public archive for planetary data, the Planetary Data System (PDS). This animation highlights several of the datasets made available through the PDS by the LOLA, LEND, and Diviner instruments on LRO. || ",
            "hits": 101
        }
    ]
}