P23C-3996:
Simulations of Water Migration in the Lunar Exosphere
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Dana Hurley, Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, Mehdi Benna, NASA - GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Paul R Mahaffy, NASA Goddard SFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, Richard C Elphic, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States and David B Goldstein, University of Texas at Austin, Aerospace Engineering and Engineer Mechanics, Austin, TX, United States
Abstract:
We perform modeling and analysis of water in the lunar exosphere. There were two controlled experiments of water interactions with the surface of the Moon observed by the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS). The Chang’e 3 landing on the Moon on 14 Dec 2013 putatively sprayed ~120 kg of water on the surface on the Moon at a mid-morning local time. Observations by LADEE near the noon meridian on six of the orbits in the 24 hours following the landing constrain the propagation of water vapor. Further, on 4 Apr 2014, LADEE’s Orbital Maintenance Manuever (OMM) #21 sprayed the surface of the Moon with an estimated 0.73 kg of water in the pre-dawn sector. Observations of this maneuver and later in the day constrain the adsorption and release at dawn of adsorbed materials. Using the Chang’e 3 exhaust plume and LADEE’s OMM-21 as control experiments, we set limits to the adsorption and thermalization of water with lunar regolith. This enables us to predict the efficiency of the migration of water as a delivery mechanism to the lunar poles. Then we simulate the migration of water through the lunar exosphere using the rate of sporadic inputs from meteoritic sources (Benna et al., this session). Simulations predict the amount of water adsorbed to the surface of the Moon and the effective delivery rate to the lunar polar cold traps.
