Future lunar mission Active X-ray Spectrometer development: Surface roughness and geometry studies

Abstract

The Active X-ray Spectrometer (AXS) is considered as one of the scientific payload candidates for a future Japanese mission, SELENE-2. The AXS consists of pyroelectric X-ray generators and a Silicon Drift Detector to conduct X-Ray Fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) on the Moon to measure major elements: Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe; minor elements: Na, K, P, S, Cr and Mn; and the trace element Ni depending on their concentration. Some factors such as roughness, grain size and porosity of sample, and the geometry of X-ray incidence, emission and energy will affect the XRF measurements precision. Basic studies on the XRF are required to develop the AXS. In this study, fused samples were used to make homogeneous samples free from the effect of grain size and porosity. Experimental and numerical studies on the XRF were conducted to evaluate the effects from incidence and emission angles and surface roughness. Angle geometry and surface roughness will be optimized for the design of the AXS on future missions from the results of the experiment and the numerical simulation.