NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating this website. We sincerely regret this inconvenience.

Back to Results
Surface magnetometer experiments: Internal lunar propertiesMagnetic fields have been measured on the lunar surface at the Apollo 12, 14, 15, and 16 landing sites. The remanent field values at these sites are respectively 38 gammas, 103 gammas (maximum), 3 gammas, and 327 gammas. Simultaneous magnetic field and solar plasma pressure measurements show that the remanent fields at the Apollo 12 and 16 sites are compressed and that the scale size of the Apollo 16 remanent field is 5 or = L 100 km. The global eddy current fields, induced by magnetic step transients in the solar wind, were analyzed to calculate an electrical conductivity profile. From nightside data it was found that deeper than 170 km into the moon, the conductivity rises from 0.0003 mhos/m to 0.01 mhos/m at 1000 km depth. Analysis of dayside transient data using a spherically symmetric two-layer model yields a homogeneous conducting core of radios 0.9 R and conductivity sigma = 0.001 mhos/m, surrounded by a nonconducting shell of thickness 0.1 R. This result is in agreement with a nonconducting profile determined from nightside data. The conductivity profile is used to calculate the temperature for an assumed lunar material of peridotite. In an outer layer the temperature rises to 850 to 1050 K, after which it gradually increases to 1200 to 1500 K at a depth of approximately 1000 km.
Document ID
19730018115
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Technical Memorandum (TM)
Authors
Dyal, P.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Parkin, C. W.
(Santa Clara Univ. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Daily, W. D.
(NASA Ames Research Center)
Date Acquired
September 2, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1973
Subject Category
Space Sciences
Report/Patent Number
NASA-TM-X-62278
Report Number: NASA-TM-X-62278
Accession Number
73N26842
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available