NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Collections About News Help Login
Back to Results
Temperature and electrical conductivity of the lunar interior from magnetic transient measurements in the geomagnetic tailMagnetometers were deployed at four Apollo sites on the moon to measure remanent and induced lunar magnetic fields. Measurements from this network of instruments were used to calculate the electrical conductivity, temperature, magnetic permeability, and iron abundance of the lunar interior. Global lunar fields due to eddy currents, induced in the lunar interior by magnetic transients in the geomagnetic tail field, were analyzed to calculate an electrical conductivity profile for the moon: the conductivity increases rapidly with depth from 10 to the minus 9 power mhos/meter at the lunar surface to .0001 mhos/meter at 200 km depth, then less rapidly to .02 mhos/meter at 1000 km depth. A temperature profile is calculated from conductivity: temperature rises rapidly with depth to 1100 K at 200 km depth, then less rapidly to 1800 K at 1000 km depth. Velocities and thicknesses of the earth's magnetopause and bow shock are estimated from simultaneous magnetometer measurements. Average speeds are determined to be about 50 km/sec for the magnetopause and 70 km/sec for the bow shock, although there are large variations in the measurements for any particular boundary crossing.
Document ID
19740015263
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Dyal, P. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Parkin, C. W. (Santa Clara Univ., United States)
Daily, W. D. (Brigham Young Univ., United States)
Date Acquired
September 3, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1974
Subject Category
Space Sciences
Report/Patent Number
NASA-TM-X-62350
Accession Number
74N23376
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Related Records

There are no records associated with this record.
No Preview Available