The Lunar Lander Neutron & Dosimetry (LND) Experiment on Chang’E4

• Main Authors: Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F., Zhang, S., Hellweg, C.E., Yu, J., Guo, J., Lohf, H., Berger, T., Böttcher, S. I., Burmeister, S., Jüngling, M., Knappmann, A., Knierim, V., Schuster, B., Seimetz, L., Shen, G., Steinhagen, J., Yuan, B.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: German
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Strahlenbiologie; South pole
• Online Access: https://elib.dlr.de/111539/; https://elib.dlr.de/111539/1/ME-SBA-2017-Wimmer-Schweingruber_Hellweg-2017-01-09-rfws-lpsc-change4.pdf

Introduction: Chang'E 4 is the next Chinese mission to the Moon and is planned to land on the far side of the Moon in the South Pole Aitken Basin. The mission consists of a lander, a rover, and a communication relay. Here we describe the Lunar Lander Neutrons & Dosimetry experiment (LND) which will be placed on the lander. It consists of a stack of 10 segmented Si solid-state detectors (SSDs) which forms a particle telescope to measure charged particles (electrons 150-500 keV, protons 12-30 MeV, and heavier nuclei 15-30 MeV/nuc). A special geometrical arrangement allows observations of fast neutrons (and γ-rays) which are also important for dosimetry and cosmic-ray exposure of lunar soils. Thermal neutrons are measured using a very thin Gd conversion foil which is sandwiched between two SSDs. Thermal neutrons are sensitive to subsurface water and important to understand lunar surface mixing processes.