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ESA's Planetary Science Archive: Preserve and present reliable scientific data sets
De Marchi, G.; Besse, S.; Vallat, C. +15 more
The European Space Agency (ESA) Planetary Science Archive (PSA) is undergoing a significant refactoring of all its components to improve the services provided to the scientific community and the public. The PSA supports ESA's missions exploring the Solar System by archiving scientific peer-reviewed observations as well as engineering data sets. Th…
SMART-1 technology, scientific results and heritage for future space missions
Grande, M.; Koschny, D.; Grieger, B. +8 more
ESA's SMART-1 mission to the Moon achieved record firsts such as: 1) first Small Mission for Advanced Research and Technology; with spacecraft built and integrated in 2.5 years and launched 3.5 years after mission approval; 2) first mission leaving the Earth orbit using solar power alone; 3) most fuel effective mission (60 L of Xenon) and longest …
C1XS results-First measurement of enhanced sodium on the lunar surface
Grande, M.; Narendranath, S.; Sreekumar, P. +1 more
We describe the first unambiguous evidence of enhanced sodium on the lunar surface revealed by the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS). The C1XS onboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was designed to map the surface elemental chemistry of the Moon using the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technique. During the nine months of remote sensing observations…
Surface mineralogy and stratigraphy of the lunar South Pole-Aitken basin determined from Clementine UV/VIS and NIR data
Davies, G. R.; Foing, B. H.; Borst, A. M. +1 more
The South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, located on the lunar far side, is one of the oldest and largest recognised impact structures in the solar system. The basin is a proposed site for future sample return missions and human bases due to the unique geological environment and its potential for preservation of water ice in areas of near-permanent shado…
Planetary X-ray fluorescence analogue laboratory experiments and an elemental abundance algorithm for C1XS
Smith, David R.; Swinyard, Bruce M.; Gow, Jason +5 more
We have conducted laboratory experiments as an analogue to planetary XRF (X-ray fluorescence) missions in order to investigate the role of changing incidence (and phase) angle geometry and sample grain-size on the intensity of XRF from regolith-like samples. Our data provide evidence of a grain-size effect, where XRF line intensity decreases with …
The C1XS X-ray Spectrometer on Chandrayaan-1
Grande, M.; Foing, B.; Huovelin, J. +27 more
The Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) is a compact X-ray spectrometer for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission. It exploits heritage from the D-CIXS instrument on ESA's SMART-1 mission. As a result of detailed developments to all aspects of the design, its performance as measured in the laboratory greatly…
The scientific rationale for the C1XS X-ray spectrometer on India's Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon
Grande, M.; Koschny, D.; Rothery, D. A. +23 more
The UK-built Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) will fly as an ESA instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon, launched in October 2008. C1XS builds on experience gained with the earlier D-CIXS instrument on SMART-1, but will be a scientifically much more capable instrument. Here we describe the scientific objectives of this inst…
Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS)—Instrument design and technical details
Grande, M.; Huovelin, J.; Howe, C. J. +13 more
The UK-built Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) is flying as an ESA instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon. The Chandrayaan-1 mission launched on the 22nd October 2008 and entered a 100 km polar lunar orbit on the 12th November 2008. C1XS builds on experience gained with the earlier D-CIXS instrument on SMART-1, but will be a…
The D-CIXS X-ray spectrometer on the SMART-1 mission to the Moon—First results
Barabash, S.; Lundin, R.; Grande, M. +28 more
The SMART-1 mission has recently arrived at the Moon. Its payload includes D-CIXS, a compact X-ray spectrometer. SMART-1 is a technology evaluation mission, and D-CIXS is the first of a new generation of planetary X-ray spectrometers. Novel technologies enable new capabilities for measuring the fluorescent yield of a planetary surface or atmospher…
Derivation of elemental abundance maps at intermediate resolution from optical interpolation of lunar prospector gamma-ray spectrometer data
Pinet, Patrick C.; Kaydash, Vadim G.; Shkuratov, Yuriy G. +4 more
We propose a technique that interpolates available lunar prospector gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) data using Clementine UVVIS spectral reflectance images. The main idea is to use low resolution GRS data as a "ground truth" to establish relationships linking optical data and geochemical information maximizing the respective correlation coefficients.…