Spectroscopy of Airless Bodies: (Solar) Wind and Water

该项目是由三个独立的航天器最近发现的，在地球的月球表面发现了含水或含羟基的矿物的证据。PI和co-PI将对广泛的太阳系天体进行地基近红外成像和光谱观测，以研究3微米附近的光谱吸收特征，通常被解释为水或OH的指示物。他们的目标将包括：月球、水星、近地小行星和主带小行星以及其他行星卫星。有了这些观测，再加上手头已有的数据和档案数据集，他们将通过寻找月球表面温度、光照(相位)角和天体沉浸在行星磁场中的光谱依赖关系，来检验月球水是由表面与太阳风的相互作用产生的假设。这项工作既与地球物理有关，也与太阳物理有关，因为它可能会限制太阳风的性质和表面历史；了解月球水的来源也是人类探索月球计划的关键。

This project follows from the recent discovery, by three independent spacecraft, of evidence for either water-bearing or OH-bearing minerals on the surface of Earth's Moon. The PI and co-PI will perform groundbased near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations of a wide range of Solar System objects in order to study the spectral absorption features in the vicinity of 3 microns, generally interpreted to be indicators of water or OH. Their targets will include: the Moon, Mercury, near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, and other planetary satellites. With these observations, coupled with data already in hand and archival datasets, they will test the hypothesis that lunar water arises from surface interactions with the Solar wind by looking for a spectral dependence on surface temperature, illumination (phase) angle, and immersion of the body in a planetary magnetic field. The work is relevant both to geophysics and solar physics in its potential to constrain both solar wind properties and surface histories; an understanding of the origin of lunar water is also key to plans for human exploration of the Moon.