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Flux estimates of ions from the lunar exosphere
Author(s) -
Sarantos M.,
Hartle R. E.,
Killen R. M.,
Saito Y.,
Slavin J. A.,
Glocer A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2012gl052001
Subject(s) - exosphere , ion , flux (metallurgy) , solar wind , physics , astrobiology , atomic physics , environmental science , plasma , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
We compare estimates for the ion fluxes of twelve expected constituents of the lunar exosphere with estimates for the ion fluxes ejected from the lunar surface by solar wind ions and electrons. Our estimates demonstrate that measurements of lunar ions will help constrain the abundances of many undetected species in the lunar exosphere, particularly Al and Si, because the expected ion flux levels from the exosphere exceed those from the surface. To correctly infer the relative abundances of exospheric ions and neutrals from Kaguya Ion Mass Analyzer (IMA) measurements, we must take into account the velocity distributions of local ions. The predicted spectrum underestimates the measured levels of O + relative to other lunar ion species, a result that may suggest contributions by molecular ions to the measured O + rates.