LRO Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND)
ODE: Moon
Mission: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
PDS Geosciences Node: PDS Source Information
Instrument: LEND
Search Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) LEND data in Lunar ODE: Product Search • Map Search
The Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector instrument measures the flux of neutrons from the Moon, which are produced by the continuous cosmic ray bombardment of the lunar surface.
The cosmic rays are sufficiently energetic to break apart atoms in the soil releasing high-energy neutrons that are then slowed down and absorbed by nuclei of elements in the soil. Not all the neutrons are captured by the soil, many escape, creating a leakage flux of neutrons which the LEND instrument will observe.
The distribution of neutron velocities, or measurements of how much they were slowed down before escaping, can tell us much about the lunar soil since it depends on the composition of the soil, and mostly, on the content of hydrogen. Even a fraction of hydrogen as small as 100 ppm is known to make a measurable change in neutron distribution from the surface of celestial bodies with thin or no atmospheres and the hydrogen content can be related to the presence of water.
The LEND instrument is sensitive to the velocity distribution of the neutron emanating from the moon and will provide the necessary spatial resolution to determine if increases in hydrogen concentration can be correlated with permanently shadowed craters on the moon where the temperatures are known to be sufficiently cold to trap water.
LEND Products:
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Type |
Description |
Data Set |
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Experiment Data Record - Housekeeping Data More Information: |
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Experiment Data Record - Raw Science Data More Information: |
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Reduced Data Record - Average Lend Counts Data - Neutron Detector science data that has been processed by normalizing and averaging derived data to yield science data in a counts/second format for each Lunar map pixel. More Information: |
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Reduced Data Record - Converted Housekeeping Data - Time-series of Neutron Detector engineering and housekeeping data that has been reduced to yield data in engineering units. More Information: |
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Reduced Data Record - Derived Lend Counts Data - Time series of Neutron Detector science data that has been processed to account for instrument warm up and efficiency saturation effects, variation of Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) flux, clearance for Solar Particle Events (SPE), separation between charged particles and neutrons, temperature and altitude corrections. More Information: |
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Reduced Data Record - Extended Derived Lend Counts Data - A calculated sum of neutron counts for the four CSETN detectors and uncertainties for neutron counting data for each of the nine neutron sensors aboard the LRO LEND instrument. More Information: |
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Reduced Data Record - Rectified Science Data - Time-series of Neutron Detector science data that includes timing and spatial information associated with the data collection interval. More Information: |
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Reduced Data Record - Averaged Flux Data - Neutron Detector science data that has been processed by normalizing and averaging derived data to yield orbital epithermal and fast neutron fluxes. More Information: NOTE: As of 05/15/2017 there are no RDRALF data products yet released. |