Study on the structure and dynamics of the lunar exosphere

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26800258
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Space and upper atmospheric physics
• Research Institution: Japan Aerospace EXploration Agency
• Principal Investigator: Yokota Shoichiro 国立研究開発法人宇宙航空研究開発機構, 宇宙科学研究所, 助教 (40435798)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 月 / 外気圏 / 質量分析 / ピックアップイオン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have derived distributions of the lunar exosphere by using the observation data of the mass analyzer on Kaguya. We proposed a numerical model to explain a dawn-dusk asymmetry of the lunar exosphere which was discovered by Kaguya. Our model implies that the exospheric particles need to be supplied during the night for the observed dawn-dusk asymmetry. We argue that the interplanetary dust as well as grain diffusion and migration/recycling of the exospheric particles may be major suppliers. We also estimated the oxygen flux transported from the Earth to the Moon.

Free Research Field

宇宙プラズマ物理学