McKinley)! You can use the profile tool within Quickmap to visualize the relief of these massive peaks. This seemingly modest peak is taller than Denali (6140 meters (21,146 feet) from base to summit, formerly known as Mt. Additionally, there are no familiar landmarks (buildings, telephone poles, etc.) to provide a sense of scale. On Earth we are used to distant peaks appearing a little fuzzy because of atmospheric effects, since the Moon has no atmosphere we do not have that visual clue. Often it is not easy to accurately judge distances on the Moon. Original caption: It is amazing to think that a 7000 meter (23,000 feet) tall mountain has no name! However, there are quite a few unnamed lunar peaks with more than 6000 meters relief – most of these giant mountains are part of the rim of the massive South Pole Aitken basin, which formed when an impactor struck the Moon about 4.3 billion years ago. IAU citation for Wargo crater: planetarynames.wr./Feature/15611Įxplore Wargo crater with Quickmap: bit.ly/2Be0M4bĮdited Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter PR image of very tall (~7000 meters) but unnamed mountains near the Moon's south pole. Two months after his death, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft broadcast from lunar orbit a recording of Wargo, voicing his take on the LRO motto: "The true spirit of these missions is that science enables exploration and exploration enables science." “He was a dedicated member of the NASA lunar exploration team and was particularly proud of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).”Īmong other honors bestowed upon Wargo, his was the first voice transmitted around the Moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972. “Michael would be thrilled to be honored in this way,” said Wargo’s wife, Adele Morrissette. Massive amounts of instant magma crested the lower eastern rim and spread across the floor of Joule T. An asteroid measuring several thousand feet in diameter slammed into the steeply sloping rim of Joule T crater (24 miles or 38 km in diameter) at hyper-velocity (3 to 12 miles per second) forming a crater over 3,000 feet (914 meters) deep. The formation of Wargo crater had a big impact on its surroundings. Building on these discoveries, NASA is developing several CubeSat orbital missions (Lunar Flashlight, LunaH-MAP, and Lunar IceCube) to better identify the location and abundance of water-ice on the Moon, and Resource Prospector, a rover and instrument suite currently in formulation, to prove the capability to harvest lunar resources. The missions have revealed a surprisingly active Moon with water molecules and a water cycle, and found evidence that the lunar soil within shadowy craters is rich in useful volatiles. LRO remains in orbit, relaying high-resolution science observations, while LCROSS intentionally impacted the Moon to dig up and eject subsurface material for compositional analyses. “His enthusiasm permeated every part of his career, and helped fuel our global desire to learn more about our solar system.”Īs chief exploration scientist, Wargo was a leader in the development of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar CRator Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, which launched together to the Moon in 2009. “Mike’s passion for exploration and planetary science was an inspiration to us all,” said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He was passionate about scientific discoveries to enable human exploration in deep space, and worked with planetary researchers around the world to develop robotic discovery missions. Working in a primarily engineering directorate at NASA, Wargo asserted common goals across disciplines within the agency. He was known as a science ambassador to the public, and for his ability to decipher complex science for students and nontechnical audiences. Wargo had many remarkable contributions to exploration science throughout his 20-year career at NASA. The International Astronomical Union is the naming authority for celestial bodies, and reserves the naming of Moon craters for deceased astronauts and cosmonauts, as well as deceased scientists and polar explorers who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field. Wargo worked at NASA from 1991 until his death in 2013. Wargo Crater is an 8.6-mile (13.8 km) diameter impact crater sitting on the northwest edge of Joule T crater, on the far side of the Moon. Image source: Original caption: NASA’s former chief exploration scientist, Michael Wargo, has been posthumously honored with the distinction of having a lunar crater named after him. Edited Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Wargo Crater on the far side of the Moon.
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