P23C-4001:
LRO-LAMP Observations of the Lunar Exosphere Coordinated with LADEE
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Cesare Grava1, Kurt D Retherford1, Thomas K Greathouse1, Randy Gladstone1, Dana Hurley2, Jason Campbell Cook3, S Alan Stern3, Paul D Feldman4, David E Kaufmann3, Paul F Miles1, Wayne Robert Pryor5 and Jasper S Halekas6, (1)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, United States, (2)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, (3)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, (5)Central Arizona College, Coolidge, AZ, United States, (6)University of Iowa, Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA, United States
Abstract:
The polar orbiting Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's (LRO) Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) carried out an atmospheric campaign during the month of December 2013, at the same time the Lunar Atmospheric and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission was sampling the lunar exosphere in a retrograde equatorial orbit. Observations of the lunar exosphere were performed by LAMP during a solar "beta-90" geometry, i.e. riding along the lunar terminator. During this geometry, the LAMP nadir-pointed line of sight to the nightside surface also includes illuminated columns of foreground emissions from exospheric species, which is invaluable in the study of the tenuous lunar exosphere. Other types of maneuvers to probe the lunar exosphere were also performed by LAMP/LRO during this campaign. During backward pitch slews, the LRO spacecraft was pitched to look opposite its direction of motion to a point just inside the limb in the nightside region around the polar terminator. Forward pitch slews were also obtained, and the angles of 63 deg or 77 deg from nadir were set depending on the polar region observed. Finally, during lateral roll slews, LRO rotated by ~60 deg towards the nightside limb, maximizing the amount of illuminated atmosphere in the foreground probed by the LAMP field of view. We extract day to day density variations on helium and/or upper limits for numerous other species that were accessible to both LAMP and LADEE (e.g., Ar, Ne, O, and H2). Moreover, constraints on helium density will complement measurements of solar wind alpha particles (He++) from the ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, & Electrodynamics of Moon's Interaction with the Sun) mission. This comparison will provide a comprehensive picture of composition, abundance, and spatial and temporal variations of volatiles of the lunar exosphere, combining equatorial (LADEE) and polar (LAMP) measurements for the first time. Volatiles in the lunar exosphere, especially water, are of paramount importance in the context of lunar exploration, since the compelling hypothesis of their storage in Permanently Shaded Regions (PSRs) was advanced in the second half of the last century.
