Mascons "Mass concentrations of dense material lie beneath the surface of the moon, report Paul M.
Landerer, 2015: Improved methods for observing Earth's time variable mass distribution with GRACE using spherical cap
mascons. J.
They pinpointed the locations of large, dense regions called mass concentrations, or
mascons, which are characterized by strong gravitational pull.
"Our first lunch together was at the Grand Hotel, in Birmingham, where he told me of his excitement at the discovery of
mascons (basins) on the moon.
Mascons, the most advanced "psycholocalizer," affects the brain so that "the subject cannot tell which of his perceptions have been altered, and which has not" (114).
Later studies showed that these
mascons only occur over maria within impact basins such as Imbrium, Humorum, and Crisium.
The interiors of many basins are pronounced gravity "highs," the famous mass concentrations or
mascons discovered in the early days of lunar exploration.
Such low orbits around the Moon are very tricky, because "
mascons" (mass concentrations) underneath the Moon's impact-basin maria make the lunar gravity field lumpy (see page 15).
NASA's Lunar Orbiter missions in the 1960s discovered mass concentrations (
mascons) under the Moon's surface that disturbed their orbits.
The existence of these mass concentrations, or "
mascons," was essential information, for they would also affect the orbits of the Apollo spacecraft intending to land.