¹Neil E. Bowles et al. (>10)
Journal of Geophyiscal Research: Planets (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JE009333]
¹Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) instrument is a UK Space Agency funded infrared radiometer designed and built for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lunar Trailblazer mission launched in February 2025. LTM is a pushbroom imaging filter radiometer with 15 channels that cover the wavelength range from 6.25 to 100 μm with a 40–70 m/pixel ground sampling. Lunar Trailblazer’s mission is to understand the form, abundance and distribution of water across the lunar surface. LTM provides an independent measure of temperature to investigate thermal effects on water’s mapped distribution as well as an independent measure of surface mineralogy. The LTM instrument’s 15 infrared channels include four broadband temperature sensing channels (6.25–12.5, 12.5–25, 25–50 and 50–100 μm) plus 11 additional narrow band (∼40 cm−1) filters from ∼7–10 μm to map and discriminate silicate composition. We review the LTM design and calibration campaign at the University of Oxford’s Space Instrumentation facility and show that the instrument has sensitivity from 400 K with a Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference of <0.1 K to <1 K at 110 K for typical integration times (e.g., 30 Hz readout) from a nominal 70–130 km lunar orbit design altitude.

¹Ming Ma et al. (>10)
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2026JE009657]
¹School of Surveying and Exploration Engineering, and Key Laboratory of Architectural Cold Climate EnergyManagement, Ministry of Education, Jilin Jianzhu University, Changchun, China
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Space weathering substantially distorts the Christiansen feature (CF) observed by LunarReconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner thermal infrared radiometer, obscuring the intrinsic compositional andthermophysical signals of lunar surface silicate minerals. In this study, we develop a two‐step correctionframework designed to remove space weathering effects from a previously topographically corrected LRODiviner CF map. The method integrates Kaguya 750 nm reflectance, optical maturity (OMAT), FeO, H‐parameter, and npFe0 parameters to model nonlinear space weathering relationships across immature,moderately mature, and mature CF pixels. The corrected CF values exhibited reduced dependence on npFe0abundances, enhanced correlation with bulk FeO abundances, and improved internal consistency withincompositionally homogeneous regions. Comparisons with correction results based on Kaguya OMAT and FeOscale factors indicate that the proposed method more effectively suppresses space weathering inducedvariability while preserving compositionally diagnostic CF signatures. Persistent low CF anomalies in highlandregions suggest additional controls beyond npFe0 accumulation, potentially related to basaltic dustcontamination, subsurface compositional heterogeneity, and silicate amorphization processes. The resulting CFproduct offers a refined thermal infrared perspective on lunar surface composition, indicating clearer basalticdistributions, particularly within the South Pole Aitken basin.