Metallic species, oxygen and silicon in the lunar exosphere: constraints from Mercury and prospects for LADEE measurements

Details Metallic species, oxygen and silicon in the lunar exosphere: constraints from Mercury and prospects for LADEE measurements Metallic species, oxygen and silicon in the lunar exosphere: constraints from Mercury and prospects for LADEE measurements

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p51c1456s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P51C-1456

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

[5405] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Atmospheres, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon, [7549] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Ultraviolet Emissions

Scientific paper

The only species that have been confirmed in the lunar exosphere are Na, K, Ar, and He. Models for the production and loss of lunar regolith-derived exospheric species from source processes including micrometeoroid impact vaporization, sputtering, and, for Na and K, photon-stimulated desorption, predict a host of other species should exist in the lunar exosphere. Assuming that loss processes are limited to ballistic escape and recycling to the surface, we have computed column abundances and compared them to published upper limits from the Moon. Our models are further constrained by observations from Moon's sister exosphere, that of Mercury. Simulations of the neutral mass (NMS) and visible/ultraviolet spectrometry (UVS) investigations planned by the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft are presented. Our calculations indicate that LADEE measurements promise to make definitive observations or set stringent upper limits for at least a few of the regolith-driven exospheric species. Our models, along with LADEE observations, will constrain assumed model parameters for the Moon, such as sticking coefficients, source processes and velocity distributions.

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