Moon Mapping Project Results on Solar Wind ion Flux and Composition

Abstract

The “Moon Mapping” project is a collaboration between the Italian and Chinese Governments allowing cooperation and exchange from students from both countries. Main aim of the project is to analyze remotely sensed data collected by the Chinese space missions Chang’E-1/2 over the Moon surface. The Italian Space Agency is responsible for the Italian side and the Center of Space Exploration, China Ministry of Education, is responsible for the Chinese side. The results of the “Moon Mapping” project topic #1: ”map of the solar wind ion” using data collected by Chang’E-1 satellite are summarized. Chang’E-1 is a lunar orbiter, the revolution period is 2 h and the orbit is polar. The satellite is equipped with two Solar Wind Ion Detectors (SWIDs) that are two perpendicular electrostatic spectrometers mapping the sky with 24 channels with a field of view of 15° × 6.7° each. The spectrometers can measure solar wind flux in the range 40 eV/q–17 keV/q with an energy resolution of 8%. The data collected by the two Solar Wind Ion Detectors are analyzed to characterize the solar wind flux and composition on the Moon surface, studying the large time variation due to the solar activity. The data measured by Chang’E-1, as compared with the one measured in the same period by the electrostatic spectrometers onboard the ACE satellite, enrich the multi-messenger/multi-particle view of the Sun, gathering valuable information about the space weather outside the Earth’s magnetosphere.