Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Lunar Near Surface Plasma Environment from Chandrayaan-2 Lander Platform:RAMBHA-LP payload


Affiliations
1 Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
 

The near surface lunar plasma environment is modulated by important components like the photoelectron sheath, solar wind, lunar surface potential, etc. In situ measurements of lunar near surface plasma are not available as of now. Previous lunar missions which explored the near surface environment have arrived at estimates of lunar photo electron densities mainly from lunar sample returns. The Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission affords a unique opportunity to explore the near surface lunar plasma environment from the lunar lander platform. A Langmuir probe is developed indigenously for probing the tenuous lunar near surface plasma environment from the top deck of the lunar lander. The probe is designed to cater to a wide dynamic range of 10/cc to 10,000/cc. The probe behaviour is characterized in the ambient room conditions using a current source. The sensitivity of the probe to incoming ionized species is also characterized in a vacuum chamber. The Langmuir probe response is characterized such that the input current to the probe is correctly deciphered during the mission duration. The calibration of the present Langmuir probe is carried out using a standard calibrated Langmuir probe. The details of the theoretical simulations of the expected currents, the characterization and calibration activities are presented and discussed.

Keywords

Debye Length, Electron Density, Electron Temperature, Langmuir Probe.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Freeman Jr, J. W. and Hills, H. U., Positive ions at the Apollo 12 ALSEP site resulting from the Apollo 13 S-IV B Impact. EOS, 1970, 51, 821.

  • Freeman Jr, J. W., Energetic ion bursts on the nightside of the Moon. J. Geophys. Res., 1972, 77(1), 239–243.

  • O’Brien, B. J. and Reasoner, D. L., Charged particle lunar environment experiment, Apollo 14 Preliminary Science Report, NASA Spec. Publ., 1971, 272, 193.

  • Neugebauer, M., Snyder, C. W., Clay, D. R. and Goldstein, B. E., Solar wind observations on the lunar surface with the Apollo-12 Alsep. Planet. Space Sci., 1972, 20, 1577.

  • Berg, O. E., Richardson, F. F. and Burton, H., Lunar ejecta an meteorites experiment. In APOLLO 17 Preliminary Science Report, NASA SP-330, 1973, p. 16.

  • Berg, O. E., Richardson, F. F., Ree, J. W. and Auer, S., Preliminary results of a cosmic dust experiment on the Moon. Geophys. Res. Lett., 1974, 1(7), 289–290; doi:10.1029/GL001i007p00289.

  • Reasoner, D. L. and Burke, W. J., Characteristics of the lunar photoelectron layer in the geomagnetic tail. J. Geophys. Res., 1972, 77, 6671.

  • Reasoner, D. L. and Burke, W. J., Direct observations of the lunar photoelectron layer. Proceedings of the Third Lunar Science Conference, Supplement 3, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 1972, 3, 2639.

  • Rich, F. J., David, L, Reasoner and William, J. B., Plasma sheet at lunar distance: characteristics and interactions with lunar surface. J. Geophys. Res., 1973, 78, 8097.

  • Savich, N. A., Lunar plasma model. Space Res., 1976, 16, 941–943.

  • Feuerbacher, B., Anderegg, M., Fitton, B., Laude, L. D. and Willis, R. F., Photoemission from lunar surface fines and the lunar photo electron sheath. Proceedings of the third lunar science conference (Supplement 3, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta), The MIT Press, 1972, 3, 2655–2663.

  • Willis, R. F., Anderegg, M., Feuerbacher, B. and Fitton, B., Photoemission and secondary electron emission from lunar surface material. In Photon and Particle Interactions With Surfaces in Space (eds Grard, R. J. L. and Reidel, D.), Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 389–401.

  • Sternovsky, Z., Chamberlin, P., Horanyi, M., Robertson, S. and Wang, X., Variability of the lunar photoelectron sheath and dust mobility due to solar activity. J. Geophys. Res., 2008, 113, A10104; doi:10.1029/2008JA013487.

  • Imamura, T. et al., Radio occultation measurement of the electron density near the lunar surface using a subsatellite on the SELENE mission. J. Geophys. Res., 2012, 117, A06303; doi:10.1029/ 2011JA017293.

  • Vyshlov, A. S., Preliminary results of circumlunar plasma research by the Luna 22 spacecraft. Space Res., 1976, 16, 945–949.

  • Vyshlov, A. S., Savich, N. A., Vasilyev, M. B., Samoznaev, L. N., Sidorenko, A. I. and Shtern, D. Y., Some results of cislunar plasma research. NASA Tech. Rep., 1976, 397, 81–85.

  • Stern, S. A., The lunar atmosphere: history, status, current, problems, and context. Rev. Geophys., 1999, 16, 941–943.

  • Choudhary, R. K., Ambili, K. M., Choudhury, S., Dhanya, M. B. and Bhardwaj, A., On the origin of the ionosphere at the Moon using results from Chandrayaan-1 S band radio occultation experiment and a photochemical model. Geophys. Res. Lett., 2016, 43, 10025–10033; doi:10.1002/2016GL07061.

  • Langmuir, I. and Mott-Smith, H., The theory of collectors in gaseous discharges. Phys. Rev., 1926, 28, 727–763.

  • Spencer, N. W., Brace, L. H., Carignan, G. R., Taeusch, D. R. and Niemann, H., Electron and molecular nitrogen temperature and density in the thermosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 1965, 70(11), 2665–2698.

  • Prakash and Subbaraya, Langmuir probe for the measurement of electron density and electron temperature in the ionosphere, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 1967, 38(5), 1132–1136.

  • Smith, L. G., Small rocket instrumentation techniques (ed. Maeda, K. I.), North Holland Publishing, Amsterdam, 1969, p. 1.

  • Stubbs, T. J., Glenar, D. A., Farrell, W. M., Vondrak, R. R., Collier, M. R., Halekas, J. S. and Delory, G. T., On the role of dust in the lunar ionosphere. Planet. Space Sci., 2011, 59, 1659–1664.

  • Manju, G. et al., A Novel probe for in situ electron density and neutral wind (ENWi) measurements in the near Earth space. J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys., 2012, 74, 81–86.

  • Manju, G., Sridharan, R., Sudha Ravindran, Madhav Haridas, M. K., Pant, T. K., Sreelatha, P. and Mohan Kumar, S. V., Rocket borne in situ electron density and neutral wind measurements in the equatorial ionosphere results from the January 2010 annular solar eclipse campaign from India. J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys., 2012, 86, 56–64.

  • Manju, G., Madhav Haridas, M. K., Ramkumar, G., Pant, T. K., Sridharan, R. and Sreelatha, P., Gravity wave signatures in the dip equatoria ionosphere–thermosphere system during the annular solar eclipse of 15 January 2010. J. Geophys. Res.: Space Phys., 2014, 19, 4929–4937; http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JA019865.


Abstract Views: 257

PDF Views: 79




  • Lunar Near Surface Plasma Environment from Chandrayaan-2 Lander Platform:RAMBHA-LP payload

Abstract Views: 257  |  PDF Views: 79

Authors

G. Manju
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Tarun K. Pant
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
P. Sreelatha
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Santhosh J. Nalluveettil
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
P. Pradeep Kumar
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Nirbhay Kumar Upadhyay
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Md. Mosarraf Hossain
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Neha Naik
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Vipin Kumar Yadav
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Rosmy John
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
R. Sajeev
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Jothi Ramalingam
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Philip George
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Amarnath Nandi
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
N. Mridula
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Aswathy R. P. Janmejay Jaiswal Rana
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Snehil Srivastava
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India
Satheesh Thampi
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO, Thiruvananthapuram 695 022, India

Abstract


The near surface lunar plasma environment is modulated by important components like the photoelectron sheath, solar wind, lunar surface potential, etc. In situ measurements of lunar near surface plasma are not available as of now. Previous lunar missions which explored the near surface environment have arrived at estimates of lunar photo electron densities mainly from lunar sample returns. The Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission affords a unique opportunity to explore the near surface lunar plasma environment from the lunar lander platform. A Langmuir probe is developed indigenously for probing the tenuous lunar near surface plasma environment from the top deck of the lunar lander. The probe is designed to cater to a wide dynamic range of 10/cc to 10,000/cc. The probe behaviour is characterized in the ambient room conditions using a current source. The sensitivity of the probe to incoming ionized species is also characterized in a vacuum chamber. The Langmuir probe response is characterized such that the input current to the probe is correctly deciphered during the mission duration. The calibration of the present Langmuir probe is carried out using a standard calibrated Langmuir probe. The details of the theoretical simulations of the expected currents, the characterization and calibration activities are presented and discussed.

Keywords


Debye Length, Electron Density, Electron Temperature, Langmuir Probe.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi3%2F383-391