The Solar Wind and Particle Radiation Environment on the Surface of the Moon—New Observations from Chang’E-4

WANG Chi1, LI Lei1, ZHANG Aibing2,3, ZHANG Shenyi2,3, HOU Donghui2, XU Zigong4, XIE Lianghai1, WANG Huizi5, LUO Pengwei6, GUO Jingnan4, SHI Quanqi5, ZHANG Xiaoping6

PDF(3410 KB)
PDF(3410 KB)
Journal of Deep Space Exploration ›› 2022, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (3) : 239-249. DOI: 10.15982/j.issn.2096-9287.2022.20220020
Reviews

The Solar Wind and Particle Radiation Environment on the Surface of the Moon—New Observations from Chang’E-4

  • WANG Chi1, LI Lei1, ZHANG Aibing2,3, ZHANG Shenyi2,3, HOU Donghui2, XU Zigong4, XIE Lianghai1, WANG Huizi5, LUO Pengwei6, GUO Jingnan4, SHI Quanqi5, ZHANG Xiaoping6
Author information +
History +

Abstract

The solar wind, solar energetic particles and the galactic cosmic rays can reach the Moon almost unhindered, and interact with the lunar surface. The solar wind is partly scattered by the lunar regolith as hydrogen energetic neutral atoms, and the solar wind can also sputter heavy energetic neutral atoms out of the lunar regolith as well. While the albedo radiation, resulting from impact of the solar energetic particles and the galactic cosmic rays on the lunar regolith, are mainly composed of neutrons and gamma rays, features of the lunar surface radiation environment. The first ever in situ measurements of energetic neutral atoms and particle radiation have been carried out by Chang’E-4 on the lunar farside. Results reveal that a mini-magnetosphere is formed in the vicinity of the Moon, suggesting ENA is a new perspective to study the solar wind - Moon interaction. While the radiation measurements provide valuable information to guarantee the health of future robotic or manned missions to the Moon.

Keywords

lunar space environment / energetic neutral atom / solar wind scattering / particle radiation / mini-magnetosphere

Cite this article

Download citation ▾
WANG Chi, LI Lei, ZHANG Aibing, ZHANG Shenyi, HOU Donghui, XU Zigong, XIE Lianghai, WANG Huizi, LUO Pengwei, GUO Jingnan, SHI Quanqi, ZHANG Xiaoping. The Solar Wind and Particle Radiation Environment on the Surface of the Moon—New Observations from Chang’E-4. Journal of Deep Space Exploration, 2022, 9(3): 239‒249 https://doi.org/10.15982/j.issn.2096-9287.2022.20220020

References

[1] WANG X D,BIAN W,WANG J S,et al. Acceleration of scattered solar wind protons at the polar terminator of the Moon:results from Chang’E‐1/SWIDs[J]. Geophys. Res. Lett.,2010,37:L07203
[2] SAITO Y,YOKOTA S,TANAKA T,et al. Solar wind proton reflection at the lunar surface:low energy ion measurement by MAP-PACE onboard SELENE (KAGUYA)[J]. Geophysical Research Letters,2008,35(24):L24205
[3] SCHAUFELBERGER A,WURZ P,BARABASH S,et al. Scattering function for energetic neutral hydrogen atoms off the lunar surface[J]. Geophysical Research Letters,2011,38(22):L22202
[4] WIESER M,BARABASH S,FUTAANA Y,et al. Extremely high reflection of solar wind protons as neutral hydrogen atoms from regolith in space[J]. Planetary and Space Science,2009,57(14/15):2132-2134
[5] FUTAANA Y,BARABASH S,WIESER M,et al. Empirical energy spectra of neutralized solar wind protons from the lunar regolith[J]. Journal of Geophysical Research:Planets,2012,117(E5):E05005
[6] ALLEGRINI F,DAYEH M A,DESAI M I. Lunar Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) spectra measured by the Interstellar Boundary EXplorer (IBEX)[J]. Planetary and Space Science,2013,85:232-242
[7] VORBURGER A,WURZ P,BARABASH S,et al. Energetic neutral atom imaging of the lunar surface[J]. Journal of Geophysical Research:Space Physics,2013,118(7):3937-3945
[8] FUNSTEN H O,ALLEGRINI F,BOCHSLER P A,et al. Reflection of solar wind hydrogen from the lunar surface[J]. Journal of Geophysical Research:Planets,2013,118(2):292-305
[9] WURZ P,ROHNER U,WHITBY J A,et al. The lunar exosphere:the sputtering contribution[J]. Icarus,2007,191(2):486-496
[10] VORBURGER A,WURZ P,BARABASH S,et al. Energetic neutral atom observations of magnetic anomalies on the lunar surface[J]. Journal of Geophysical Research:Space Physics,2012,117(A7):A07208
[11] WIESER M,BARABASH S,FUTAANA Y,et al. First observation of a mini-magnetosphere above a lunar magnetic anomaly using energetic neutral atoms[J]. Geophysical Research Letters,2010,37(5):L05103
[12] LIN R P,MITCHELL D L,CURTIS D W,et al. Lunar surface magnetic fields and their interaction with the solar wind:results from lunar prospector[J]. Science,1998,281(5382):1480-1484
[13] HALEKAS J S,DELORY G T,BRAIN D A,et al. Density cavity observed over a strong lunar crustal magnetic anomaly in the solar wind:a mini-magnetosphere?[J]. Planetary and Space Science,2008,56(7):941-946
[14] WIESER M,BARABASH S,WANG X D,et al. The Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals (ASAN) on the Chang’E-4 rover Yutu-2[J]. Space Science Reviews,2020,216:73-75
[15] ZHANG A D,WIESERE M,WANG C,et al. Emission of energetic neutral atoms measured on the lunar surface by Chang’E-4[J]. Planetary and Space Science,2020,189:104970
[16] WANG H Z,XIAO C,SHI Q Q,et al. Energetic neutral atoms distribution on the lunar surface and its relationship with solar wind conditions[J]. The Astrophysical Journal Letters,2021,922(2):L41
[17] XIE L,LI L,ZHANG A,et al. Inside a lunar mini-magnetosphere:first energetic neutral atom measurements on the lunar surface[J]. Geophysical Research Letters,2021,48:e2021GL093943
[18] MITCHELL D L,HALEKAS J S,LIN R P,et al. Global mapping of lunar crustal magnetic fields by lunar prospector[J]. Icarus,2008,194(2):401-409
[19] XIE L H,LI L,ZHANG Y T,et al. Three-dimensional hall MHD simulation of lunar minimagnetosphere:general characteristics and comparison with Chang'E-2 observations[J]. Journal of Geophysical Research:Space Physics,2015,120(8):6559-6568
[20] SAITO Y,NISHINO M N,FUJIMOTO M,et al. Simultaneous observation of the electron acceleration and ion deceleration over lunar magnetic anomalies[J]. Earth,Planets and Space,2012,64(2):4-9
[21] WIMMER-SCHWEINGRUBER R F,YU J,BTTCHER S I,et al. The Lunar Lander Neutron and Dosimetry (LND) experiment on Chang’E 4[J]. Space Science Review,2020,216:104
[22] 王馨悦,荆涛,张珅毅,等. “嫦娥一号”卫星太阳高能粒子探测器的首次观测结果[J]. 地球物理学进展,2012,27(6):2289-2295
WANG X Y, JING T, ZHANG S Y, et al. The first results of Chang'e-1 high energetic particles detector[J]. Progress in Geophysics,2012,27(6):2289-2295
[23] DACHEV T P,TOMOV B T,MATVIICHUK Y N,et al. An overview of RADOM results for Earth and Moon radiation environment on Chandrayaan-1 satellite Adv[J]. Space Res. 2011,48:779.
[24] SPENCE H E,CASE A W,GOLIGHTLY M J,et al. CRaTER:the cosmic ray telescope for the effects of radiation experiment on the lunar reconnaissance orbiter mission[J]. Space Sci Rev.,2010,150:243-284
[25] HOU D H,ZHANG S,YU J,et al. Removing the dose background from radioactive sources from active dose rate measurements in the Lunar Lander Neutron & Dosimetry (LND) experiment on the Chang'E 4[J]. Journal of Instrument,2020,15:P02032
[26] QUAN Z,WIMMER-SCHWEINGRUBER R F,KULKARNI S R,et al. First measurements of the radiation dose on the lunar surface[J]. Science Advances,2020(6):39-45
[27] LUO P W,ZHANG X P. First Measurements of low energy cosmic rays on the surface of the lunar far side from Chang'E-4 mission[J]. Science Advances,2022,8(2):1760
[28] TYLKA A J. CREME96:a revision of the cosmic ray effects on micro-electronics code[J]. Ieee Transactions on Nuclear Science,1997,44:2150-2160
[29] ADAMS J H. CREME:the 2011 revision of the cosmic ray effects on micro-electronics code[J]. Ieee Transactions on Nuclear Science,2021,59:3141-3147
[30] XU Z G,GUO J N,WIMMER-SCHWEINGRUBER R F,et al. First solar energetic particles measured on the lunar far-side[J]. The Astrophysical Journal Letters,2020,902:L30
[31] 张坤毅,侯东辉,WIMMER-SCHWEINGRUBER R F,等. LND两年月表辐射剂量测量结果[J]. 空间科学学报,2021(3):439-444
ZHANG SY, HOU D H, WIMMER-SCHWEINGRUBER R F, et al. Radiation dose of LND on the lunar surface in two years[J]. Chinese Journal of Space Science,2021(3):439-444
PDF(3410 KB)

Accesses

Citations

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/