High energy X-γ ray spectrometer on the Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon |
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| Authors: | J N Goswami D Banerjee N Bhandari M Shanmugam Y B Acharya D V Subhedar M R Sharma C N Umapathy P Sreekumar M Sudhakar L Abraham P C Agrawal |
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| Institution: | (1) Physical Research Laboratory, 380 009 Ahmedabad, India;(2) Space Astronomy and Instrumentation Division, ISRO Satellite Center, 560 017 Bangalore, India;(3) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 400 005 Mumbai, India |
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| Abstract: | The Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon scheduled for launch in late 2007 will include a high energy X-ray spectrometer (HEX)
for detection of naturally occurring emissions from the lunar surface due to radioactive decay of the238U and232Th series nuclides in the energy region 20–250 keV. The primary science objective is to study the transport of volatiles on
the lunar surface by detection of the 46.5 keV line from radioactive210Pb, a decay product of the gaseous222Rn, both of which are members of the238U decay series. Mapping of U and Th concentration over the lunar surface, particularly in the polar and U-Th rich regions
will also be attempted through detection of prominent lines from the U and Th decay series in the above energy range. The
low signal strengths of these emissions require a detector with high sensitivity and good energy resolution. Pixelated Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride
(CZT) array detectors having these characteristics will be used in this experiment. Here we describe the science considerations
that led to this experiment, anticipated flux and background (lunar continuum), the choice of detectors, the proposed payload
configuration and plans for its realization |
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| Keywords: | Chemical composition volatile transport high energy X-rays Chandrayaan-1 thorium distribution on Moon |
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