521 research outputs found
Combined Gamma Ray/neutron Spectroscopy for Mapping Lunar Resources
Some elements in the Moon can be resources, such as hydrogen and oxygen. Other elements, like Ti or the minerals in which they occur, such as ilmenite, could be used in processing lunar materials. Certain elements can also be used as tracers for other elements or lunar processes, such as hydrogen for mature regoliths with other solar-wind-implanted elements like helium, carbon, and nitrogen. A complete knowledge of the elemental composition of a lunar region is desirable both in identifying lunar resources and in lunar geochemical studies, which also helps in identifying and using lunar resources. The use of gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy together to determine abundances of many elements in the top few tens of centimeters of the lunar surface is discussed. To date, very few discussions of elemental mapping of planetary surfaces considered measurements of both gamma rays and the full range of neutron energies. The theories for gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy of the Moon and calculations of leakage fluxes are presented here with emphasis on why combined gamma ray/neutron spectroscopy is much more powerful than measuring either radiation alone
Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer for the Lunar Resource Mapper
One of the early Space Exploration Initiatives will be a lunar orbiter to map the elemental composition of the Moon. This mission will support further lunar exploration and habitation and will provide a valuable dataset for understanding lunar geological processes. The proposed payload will consist of the gamma ray and neutron spectrometers which are discussed, an x ray fluorescence imager, and possibly one or two other instruments
Al-26 production profile and model comparisons in Canyon Diablo
The large preatmospheric size of the Canyon Diablo meteorite, a radius of about 15 m, makes it especially suitable for systematic studies of cosmogenic nuclide production rates of iron objects in a 2 pi geometry. To reconstruct the exposure history of the meteoroid, Heymann et al. investigated several fragments recovered from known geographic locations around the crater for their shock features and cosmogenic nobel gases. They applied the Signer-Nier noble gas production rate model to establish the preatmospheric depth of the specimens in the meteoroid. Cosmic ray exposure ages suggested a multi-episodic irradiation, with 170 or 540 Ma being inferred for most of the samples studied while two anomalous specimens indicated a possible third exposure age at 940 Ma. Be-10 and Cl-36 have been measured in a number of these same samples by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), with use being made of the preatmospheric depths determined in Heymann et al. to construct production profiles. The present study extends the cosmogenic radionuclide data to Al-26 and compares the results with both the production rate model of Reedy and Arnold and production rates determined from the cross sections used by the Reedy-Arnold model (for the major nuclear reactions making Al-26) in combination with differential fluxes calculated using the Los Alamos High Energy Transport (LAHET) Code System. Model calculations for Be-10 and Cl-36 have also been obtained
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Use of Self-Assembling Monolayers to Control Interface Bonding in a Model Study of Interfacial Fracture
The relationships between the extent of interfacial bonding, energy dissipation mechanisms, and fracture toughness in a glassy adhesive/inorganic solid joint are not well understood. We address this subject with a model system involving an epoxy adhesive on a polished silicon wafer containing its native oxide. The extent of interfacial bonding, and the wetting behavior of the epoxy, is varied continuously using self-assembling monolayers (SAMs) of octadecyltrichlorosilane (ODTS). The epoxy interacts strongly with the bare silicon oxide surface, but forms only a very weak interface with the methylated tails of the ODTS monolayer. We examine the fracture behavior of such joints as a function of the coverage of ODTS in the napkin-ring geometry. Various characterization methods are applied to the ODTS-coated surface before application of the epoxy, and to both surfaces after fracture. The fracture data are discussed with respect to the wetting of the liquid epoxy on the ODTS-coated substrates, the locus of failure, and the energy dissipation mechanisms. Our goal is to understand how energy is dissipated during fracture as a function of interface strength
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Holding time study of volatile organic compounds in SUMMA canisters
According to this work, the headspace concentration of VOC`s is not changing measurably with time. That is, no appreciable uncertainty is added to the analysis of VOC`s in the headspace of storage drums by storage of the samples in SUMMA canisters for greater than 28 days
Cosmogenic Samarium-150 and Calcium-41 in Norton County
Though brecciated, the Norton County (NC) aubrite contains little or no trapped noble gas and has been widely assumed to have a simple if unusually long cosmic ray exposure (CRE), 115 Ma. One goal of this ongoing study of NC has been to search for signs of pre-irradiation as proposed. One may test for multiple stages of CRE by comparing thermal neutron fluences inferred from Ca-41 (t(sub 1/2)=0.1 Ma) activities, which reflect irradiation conditions over the last approximately 0.3 Ma, with those inferred from (stable) Sm isotope abundances, which integrate over the entire CRE history. In the case of a one-stage exposure the fluences should agree. We focus on these particular comparisons because the properties of NC - its long CRE exposure, relatively large size, and low iron concentration - all promised high production rates and ease of measurement. Previously, we reported on several cosmogenic nuclides in NC. Here we present new Ca-41 data, Sm isotope measurements, and comparisons with model calculations of cosmic ray production
Mechanisms and dynamics of the NH<sup>+</sup><sub>2</sub> + H<sup>+</sup> and NH<sup>+</sup> + H<sup>+</sup> + H fragmentation channels upon single-photon double ionization of NH<sub>3</sub>
We present state-selective measurements on the NH + H and NH + H + H dissociation channels following single-photon double ionization at 61.5 eV of neutral NH, where the two photoelectrons and two cations are measured in coincidence using 3-D momentum imaging. Three dication electronic states are identified to contribute to the NH + H dissociation channel, where the excitation in one of the three states undergoes intersystem crossing prior to dissociation, producing a cold NH fragment. In contrast, the other two states directly dissociate, producing a ro-vibrationally excited NH fragment with roughly 1 eV of internal energy. The NH + H + H channel is fed by direct dissociation from three intermediate dication states, one of which is shared with the NH + H channel. We find evidence of autoionization contributing to each of the double ionization channels. The distributions of the relative emission angle between the two photoelectrons, as well as the relative angle between the recoil axis of the molecular breakup and the polarization vector of the ionizing field, are also presented to provide insight on both the photoionization and photodissociation mechanisms for the different dication states
Relationships of inflamm-aging with circulating nutrient levels, body composition, age, and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction in a senior horse population
Estimating the frequency of extremely energetic solar events, based on solar, stellar, lunar, and terrestrial records
The most powerful explosions on the Sun [...] drive the most severe
space-weather storms. Proxy records of flare energies based on SEPs in
principle may offer the longest time base to study infrequent large events. We
conclude that one suggested proxy, nitrate concentrations in polar ice cores,
does not map reliably to SEP events. Concentrations of select radionuclides
measured in natural archives may prove useful in extending the time interval of
direct observations up to ten millennia, but as their calibration to solar
flare fluences depends on multiple poorly known properties and processes, these
proxies cannot presently be used to help determine the flare energy frequency
distribution. Being thus limited to the use of direct flare observations, we
evaluate the probabilities of large-energy solar explosions by combining solar
flare observations with an ensemble of stellar flare observations. We conclude
that solar flare energies form a relatively smooth distribution from small
events to large flares, while flares on magnetically-active, young Sun-like
stars have energies and frequencies markedly in excess of strong solar flares,
even after an empirical scaling with the mean activity level of these stars. In
order to empirically quantify the frequency of uncommonly large solar flares
extensive surveys of stars of near-solar age need to be obtained, such as is
feasible with the Kepler satellite. Because the likelihood of flares larger
than approximately X30 remains empirically unconstrained, we present indirect
arguments, based on records of sunspots and on statistical arguments, that
solar flares in the past four centuries have likely not substantially exceeded
the level of the largest flares observed in the space era, and that there is at
most about a 10% chance of a flare larger than about X30 in the next 30 years.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures (in press as of 2012/06/18); Journal of
Geophysical Research (Space Physics), 201
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