Abstract: The recent news concerning the landing of the Indian mission Chandrayaan-3 have reminded us that the focal points of the human exploration of the Solar Systems have been the Moon and Mars.
Central to this exploration is the mapping of the abundance of hydrogen-bearing materials. This has led to significant advances in our knowledge concerning the sequestration of volatiles at the poles of the Moon and the full Martian surface. This research is not only an intellectual challenge in understanding where and how life originated, but also is an economical pursuit, especially as the natural resources on the Earth's surface approaches a critical limit.
In this talk we present a study of the Lunar Prospector and Mars Odyssey neutron spectrometer measurements to search for the possible locations of water ice and/or hydroxyls. The epithermal range of neutron energies is nearly uniquely sensitive to the hydrogen content of surface soils, which should likely be in the form of H2O/OH molecules/radicals. We will apply a Bayesian image reconstruction algorithm to the recent reanalysis of the Lunar Prospector and Mars Odyssey epithermal data-sets, which are marked by significantly lower statistical and systematic uncertainties that have plagued older versions of the aforementioned data-sets.