ALBERT

All Library Books, journals and Electronic Records Telegrafenberg

feed icon rss

Your email was sent successfully. Check your inbox.

An error occurred while sending the email. Please try again.

Proceed reservation?

Export
  • 1
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: ARTEMIS observes pickup ions around the Moon, at distances of up to 20,000 km from the surface. The observed ions form a plume with a narrow spatial and angular extent, generally seen in a single energy/angle bin of the ESA instrument. Though ARTEMIS has no mass resolution capability, we can utilize the analytically describable characteristics of pickup ion trajectories to constrain the possible ion masses that can reach the spacecraft at the observation location in the correct energy/angle bin. We find that most of the observations are consistent with a mass range of approx. 20-45 amu, with a smaller fraction consistent with higher masses, and very few consistent with masses below 15 amu. With the assumption that the highest fluxes of pickup ions come from near the surface, the observations favor mass ranges of approx. 20-24 and approx. 36-40 amu. Although many of the observations have properties consistent with a surface or near-surface release of ions, some do not, suggesting that at least some of the observed ions have an exospheric source. Of all the proposed sources for ions and neutrals about the Moon, the pickup ion flux measured by ARTEMIS correlates best with the solar wind proton flux, indicating that sputtering plays a key role in either directly producing ions from the surface, or producing neutrals that subsequently become ionized.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN9051 , Journal of Geophysical Research; 117; E6; E06006
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 2
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: As an airless body in space with no global magnetic field, the Moon is exposed to both solar ultraviolet radiation and ambient plasmas. Photoemission from solar UV radiation and collection of ambient plasma are typically opposing charging currents and simple charging current balance predicts that the lunar dayside surface should charge positively; however, the two ARTEMIS probes have observed energydependent loss cones and high-energy, surface-originating electron beams above the dayside lunar surface for extended periods in the magnetosphere, which are indicative of negative surface potentials. In this paper, we compare observations by the ARTEMIS P1 spacecraft with a one dimensional particle-in-cell simulation and show that the energy-dependent loss cones and electron beams are due to the presence of stable, non-monotonic, negative potentials above the lunar surface. The simulations also show that while the magnitude of the non-monotonic potential is mainly driven by the incoming electron temperature, the incoming ion temperature can alter this magnitude, especially for periods in the plasma sheet when the ion temperature is more than twenty times the electron temperature. Finally, we note several other plasma phenomena associated with these non-monotonic potentials, such as broadband electrostatic noise and electron cyclotron harmonic emissions, and offer possible generation mechanisms for these phenomena.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN9069 , Geophysical Research Letters; 39; 1; L01102
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 3
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: Electron distributions measured by Lunar Prospector above the dayside lunar surface in the solar wind often have an energy dependent loss cone, inconsistent with adiabatic magnetic reflection. Energy dependent reflection suggests the presence of downward parallel electric fields below the spacecraft, possibly indicating the presence of a standing electrostatic structure. Many electron distributions contain apparent low energy (〈100 eV) upwardgoing conics (58% of the time) and beams (12% of the time), primarily in regions with non-zero crustal magnetic fields, implying the presence of parallel electric fields and/or wave-particle interactions below the spacecraft. Some, but not all, of the observed energy dependence comes from the energy gained during reflection from a moving obstacle; correctly characterizing electron reflection requires the use of the proper reference frame. Nonadiabatic reflection may also play a role, but cannot fully explain observations. In cases with upward-going beams, we observe partial isotropization of incoming solar wind electrons, possibly indicating streaming and/or whistler instabilities. The Moon may therefore influence solar wind plasma well upstream from its surface. Magnetic anomaly interactions and/or non-monotonic near surface potentials provide the most likely candidates to produce the observed precursor effects, which may help ensure quasi-neutrality upstream from the Moon.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN9023 , Planetary and Space Science; 64; 2; 73-82
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 4
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: Understanding the structure and composition of the lunar interior is a fundamental goal in furthering our knowledge of the formation and subsequent evolution of the Earth-Moon system. Among various methods, electromagnetic sounding is a valuable approach to constraining lunar interior structure. Recent analyses of plasma and field observations provide a wealth of understanding about the dynamics of the lunar plasma environment. To perform Time Domain EM (TDEM) Sounding at the Moon, the first step is to characterize the dynamic plasma environment, and to be able to isolate geophysically induced currents from concurrently present plasma currents. The TDEM Sounding transfer function method focuses on analysis of the nightside observations when the Moon is immersed in the solar wind. This method requires two simultaneous observations: an upstream reference measuring the pristine solar wind, and one downstream at or near the lunar surface. This method was last performed during Apollo and assumed the induced fields on the nightside of the Moon expand as in an undisturbed vacuum within the wake cavity. Our results indicate that EM sounding of airless bodies in the solar wind must be interpreted via self-consistent plasma models in order to untangle plasma and induced field contributions, with implications not only at the Moon but at all airless bodies exposed to the solar wind. Nightside TDEM sounding has the capability to advance the state of knowledge of the field of lunar science. This requires magnetometer operations to withstand the harsh conditions of the lunar night.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: MSFC-E-DAA-TN62978 , Annual Meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) and Special Survive and Operate Through the Lunar Night Workshop; Nov 14, 2018 - Nov 15, 2018; Columbia, MD; United States
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 5
    Publication Date: 2019-08-14
    Description: NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, LADEE, concluded a fully successful investigation of the Moon's tenuous gas and dust atmosphere on April 18, 2014. LADEE hosted three science instruments to address atmospheric and dust objectives, and a technology demonstration of deep-space optical communication. The three science instruments were an ultraviolet-visible spectrometer (UVS), a neutral mass spectrometer (NMS), and a lunar dust experiment (LDEX). All data acquired by these instruments have been submitted to the Planetary Data System. A mission overview and science instrument descriptions are readily available. LADEE inserted into a low-altitude, retrograde lunar orbit optimized for observations at the sunrise terminator, where surface temperatures rise abruptly. LADEE also carried out observations over a wide range of local times and altitudes. Here we describe some of the initial results.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: ARC-E-DAA-TN27029 , 2015 Annual Meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group; Oct 20, 2015 - Oct 22, 2015; Columbia, MD; United States
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 6
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: The lunar exosphere is generated by several processes each of which generates neutral distributions with different spatial and temporal variability. Solar wind sputtering of the lunar surface is a major process for many regolith-derived species and typically generates neutral distributions with a cosine dependence on solar zenith angle. Complicating this picture are remanent crustal magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface, which decelerate and partially reflect the solar wind before it strikes the surface. We use Kaguya maps of solar wind reflection efficiencies, Lunar Prospector maps of crustal field strengths, and published neutral sputtering yields to calculate anisotropic solar wind sputtering maps. We feed these maps to a Monte Carlo neutral exospheric model to explore three-dimensional exospheric anisotropies and find that significant anisotropies should be present in the neutral exosphere depending on selenographic location and solar wind conditions. Better understanding of solar wind/crustal anomaly interactions could potentially improve our results.
    Keywords: Astrophysics
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN22886 , Geophysical Research Letters; 41; 14; 4865–4872
    Format: text
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 7
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: As the solar wind is incident upon the lunar surface, it will occasionally encounter lunar crustal remanent magnetic fields. These magnetic fields are small-scale, highly non-dipolar, have strengths up to hundreds of nanotesla, and typically interact with the solar wind in a kinetic fashion. Simulations, theoretical analyses, and spacecraft observations have shown that crustal fields can reflect solar wind protons via a combination of magnetic and electrostatic reflection; however, analyses of surface properties have suggested that protons may still access the lunar surface in the cusp regions of crustal magnetic fields. In this first report from a planned series of studies, we use a 1 1/2-dimensional, electrostatic particle-in-cell code to model the self-consistent interaction between the solar wind, the cusp regions of lunar crustal remanent magnetic fields, and the lunar surface. We describe the self-consistent electrostatic environment within crustal cusp regions and discuss the implications of this work for the role that crustal fields may play regulating space weathering of the lunar surface via proton bombardment.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN8929 , Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics (ISSN 2169-9402); 117; A9; A09105
    Format: application/pdf
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 8
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: By analyzing the trajectories of ionized constituents of the lunar exosphere in time-varying electromagnetic fields, we can place constraints on the composition, structure, and dynamics of the lunar exosphere. Heavy ions travel slower than light ions in the same fields, so by observing the lag between field rotations and the response of ions from the lunar exosphere, we can place constraints on the composition of the ions. Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) provides an ideal platform to utilize such an analysis, since its two-probe vantage allows precise timing of the propagation of field discontinuities in the solar wind, and its sensitive plasma instruments can detect the ion response. We demonstrate the utility of this technique by using fully time-dependent charged particle tracing to analyze several minutes of ion observations taken by the two ARTEMIS probes ~3000-5000 km above the dusk terminator on 25 January 2014. The observations from this time period allow us to reach several interesting conclusions. The ion production at altitudes of a few hundred kilometers above the sunlit surface of the Moon has an unexpectedly significant contribution from species with masses of 40 amu or greater. The inferred distribution of the neutral source population has a large scale height, suggesting that micrometeorite impact vaporization and/or sputtering play an important role in the production of neutrals from the surface. Our observations also suggest an asymmetry in ion production, consistent with either a compositional variation in neutral vapor production or a local reduction in solar wind sputtering in magnetic regions of the surface.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN40281 , Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (ISSN 2169-9097); 121; 6; 1102-1115
    Format: text
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 9
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: The two ARTEMIS probes observe significant precursor activity upstream from the Moon, when magnetically connected to the dayside lunar surface. The most common signature consists of high levels of whistler wave activity near half of the electron cyclotron frequency. This precursor activity extends to distances of many thousands of km, in both the solar wind and terrestrial magnetosphere. In the magnetosphere, electrons reflect from a combination of magnetic and electrostatic fields above the lunar surface, forming loss cone distributions. In the solar wind they generally form conics, as a result of reflection from an obstacle moving with respect to the plasma frame (just as at a shock). The anisotropy associated with these reflected electrons provides the free energy source for the whistlers, with cyclotron resonance conditions met between the reflected source population and Moonward-propagating waves. These waves can in turn affect incoming plasma, and we observe significant perpendicular electron heating and plasma density depletions in some cases. In the magnetosphere, we also observe broadband electrostatic modes driven by beams of secondary electrons and/or photoelectrons accelerated outward from the surface. We also occasionally see waves near the ion cyclotron frequency in the magnetosphere. These lower frequency waves, which may result from the presence of ions of lunar origin, modulate the whistlers described above, as well as the electrons. Taken together, our observations suggest that the presence of the Moon leads to the formation of an upstream region analogous in many ways to the terrestrial electron foreshock.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN9075 , Journal of Geophysical Research (ISSN 0148-0227) (e-ISSN 2156-2202); 117; A5
    Format: text
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
  • 10
    Publication Date: 2019-07-13
    Description: The weathering of airless bodies exposed to space is a fundamental process in the formation and evolution of planetary surfaces. At the Moon, space weathering induces a variety of physical, chemical, and optical changes including the formation of nanometer-sized amorphous rims on individual lunar grains. These rims are formed by vapor redeposition from micrometeoroid impacts and ion irradiation-induced amorphization of the crystalline matrix. For ion irradiation-induced rims, however, laboratory experiments of the depth and formation timescales of these rims stand in stark disagreement with observations of lunar soil grains. We use observations by the Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) spacecraft in orbit around the Moon to compute the mean ion flux to the lunar surface between 10 eV and 5 MeV and convolve this flux with ion irradiation-induced vacancy production rates as a function of depth calculated using the Stopping Range of Ions in Matter model. By combining these results with laboratory measurements of the critical fluence for charged-particle amorphization in olivine, we can predict the formation timescale of amorphous rims as a function of depth in olivinic grains. This analysis resolves two outstanding issues: (1) the provenance of 〉100 nm amorphous rims on lunar grains and (2) the nature of the depth-age relationship for amorphous rims on lunar grains.
    Keywords: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration
    Type: GSFC-E-DAA-TN55598 , Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (ISSN 2169-9097); 123; 1; 37-46
    Format: text
    Location Call Number Expected Availability
    BibTip Others were also interested in ...
Close ⊗
This website uses cookies and the analysis tool Matomo. More information can be found here...