SM31B-2497
Measurement of Energetic Neutral Atom Flux in the Lunar Exosphere using the LDEX Instrument
Measurement of Energetic Neutral Atom Flux in the Lunar Exosphere using the LDEX Instrument
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Abstract:
In particular, the LDEX current is highly correlated with the solar wind flux, a puzzling issue because high energy ions should be excluded from the integrated signal.
One leading possibility is that energetic neutral atoms, produced by solar wind reflected from the moon's surface, are contributing to the signal, either through scattering from the LDEX target or through sputtering material from the target surface into the collector.
In this work, models for the contribution of energetic neutrals to the LDEX integrated current signal are evaluated.
Determining the LDEX current's dependency on energetic neutrals would allow a high signal-to-noise ratio measurement of energetic neutral atoms and allows the placement of stricter limits on the dust density in the lunar exosphere.