New Elemental Maps of the Nearside Lunar Highlands

Details New Elemental Maps of the Nearside Lunar Highlands New Elemental Maps of the Nearside Lunar Highlands

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p13d1699c&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P13D-1699

Physics

[3954] Mineral Physics / X-Ray, Neutron, And Electron Spectroscopy And Diffraction, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon

Scientific paper

A set of elemental maps obtained by the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) and covering the Southern Nearside Lunar Highland region will be presented. This region broadly covers the area below 10 S latitude and between -10 to +30 E longitude. It has never been the subject of a sample return mission; the nearest ground truth measurements are Apollo 16 at 8.56 S, 15.3 E and Surveyor 7 at 41 S, -11 E - this is mainly due to the uneven, mountainous terrain which makes spacecraft landings hazardous. The region has very high relief, with large slopes and rough surface features - these characteristics complicate the analysis of X-ray fluorescence analysis. Chandrayaan-1 flew at a time coinciding with a predicted increase in solar activity. For an X-ray fluorescence instrument, which relies on incident solar X-rays to illuminate the surface, this increase in activity would be enough to guarantee ~100% surface coverage in Mg, Al and Si, and significant areas in Fe, Ti, and Ca. However, the solar cycle was delayed, and instead C1XS launched into the quietest solar conditions seen in 100 years. Regardless, the excellent stability and low noise level of the instrument meant that small flares (A and B class) were able to generate statistically significant findings. The elements mapped will include Magnesium, Silicon and Aluminium, as well as relevant elemental ratios. These will be compared to other datasets including Lunar Prospector, Clementine and M3 mineral maps.

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