Absolute calibration of Apollo lunar orbital mass spectrometer.

Recent experiments were conducted in Langley Research Center's molecular beam system to perform an absolute calibration of the lunar orbital mass spectrometer which was flown on the Apollo 15 and 16 missions. Tests were performed with several models of the instrument using two test gases, argon and neon, in the 1 ntorr to .1 picotorr range. Sensitivity to argon at spacecraft orbital velocity was .00028 A/torr enabling partial pressures in the .01-picotorr range to be measured at the spacecraft altitude. Neon sensitivity was nearly a factor of 5 less. Test data support the feasibility of using the lunar orbital mass spectrometer as a tool to gather information about the lunar atmosphere.