Abstract
The primary aim of the high‐energy X‐ray spectrometer (HEX) experiment on the Chandrayaan‐1 mission to the Moon is to characterize the movement of volatiles on the lunar surface through the detection of the 46.5 keV line from 210Pb, a decay product of 222Rn. An important consideration for design and operation of HEX is to estimate the continuum background signal expected from the lunar surface, as well as its dependence on solar activity and lunar composition. We have developed a Monte Carlo code utilizing Geant4 for simulating the interaction of cosmic rays in the lunar regolith, and we estimated the variation in the continuum background in the energy region of interest for various lunar compositions. Dependence of the continuum background on solar activity was also evaluated considering ferroan anorthositic (FAN) composition. Our results suggest the viability of inferring lithologic characteristics of planetary surfaces based on a study of low‐energy gamma ray emission.
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