Journal
PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE
Volume 57, Issue 14-15, Pages 2132-2134Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2009.09.012
Keywords
Solar wind interaction with regolith; Energetic neutral atoms; Moon; Chandrayaan-1; Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer
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We report on measurements of extremely high reflection rates of solar wind particles from regolith-covered lunar surfaces. Measurements by the Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) instrument on the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in orbit around the Moon show that up to 20% of the impinging solar wind protons are reflected from the lunar surface back to space as neutral hydrogen atoms. This finding, generally applicable to regolith-covered atmosphereless bodies, invalidates the widely accepted assumption that regolith almost completely absorbs the impinging solar wind. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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