Search for Hydrogen on the Lunar Surface

1. Search for Hydrogen on the Lunar Surface i160.photobucket.com/.../shs_moonWater-1.jpg Jose Castellano, Daniel McNeel Dr. Paul Higbie, Dr. Boris Kiefer Department of Physics

2. Dream to Reality • We have always have a fascination of the unknown • In the world today our resources our limited • We will soon need a new source of energy on which to rely • We are now entering a new era of exploration into the Universe to search for possibilities of a new place to call home.

3. Water • If there is water on the moon, • Where did it come from? • How is it still present? • In what form does it exist? • Does solar wind affect the possibility? • If solar wind has a positive affect, how? • How many people could survive and for how long. • controleng.com/.../full_moon_02_2000.jpg

4. Clementine Mission • Clementine • Main credit: imagery and topography • 1.8 million images of the lunar surface • Possible ice detected on the southern hemisphere of the moon www.astro.washington.edu/courses/labs/clearin

5. Lunar Prospector Mission • Lunar Prospector • Objectives • Map the Moon’s gravitational and magnetic fields, and • Learn more about the size and content of the Moons core. • Prospect the lunar crust and atmosphere for potential resources, including minerals, water ice and certain gases,

6. Moon Craters and Shadowed Areas • Average crater diameter is 5-20km. • Average crater depth was found to be about 20% of the diameter size • Permanent Shadowed areas: Areas that are never bombarded with radiation from the sun.

7. Epithermal Neutrons • Epithermal neutrons: Neutrons of Kinetic Energy greater than that of thermal agitation. • The lunar prospector used a neutron spectrometer to measure the flux of epithermal neutrons from the surface to about1.2 meters within the lunar surface. • Maps of epithermal neutron fluxes measured by the Lunar Prospector were used to search for deposits enriched in hydrogenat both lunar poles. directory.eoportal.org/.../129/LRO_Auto17.jpeg

8. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) • The LRO mission is aimed to investigate more about the moon to prepare and support future human exploration on the moon. • LEND: • Mission objective of instrument: determine the hydrogen distribution in the lunar subsurface at a depth of 1-2 meters on the lunar surface • LEND will detect neutron counts at several different thermal levels including epithermal. • provide estimation of hydrogen content with spacialresolution of 5 - 20 km lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/hardware/032308e.jpg

9. Presently Known Lunar Prospector www.nasa.gov/.../112929main_neutrons_strip2.jpg

10. Current Research: • attempt to overlay lunar topography and chemical abundance maps from the Prospector mission. • Develop image processing tools that may be used by NASA scientists to analyze the previous and LRO hydrogen related data. • Create maps using IDL software and data from the Lunar Prospector mission to show hydrogen content and ratios across the lunar surface. Northern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere

11. Conclusion and summary: • Successfully recreating maps of hydrogen content on the lunar surface • Will present research to NASA this summer for internship at Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Maryland ( headquarters of LRO mission) • Acquired a better understanding of NASA research efforts and the science of space exploration. • QUESTIONS?