Transcript Studio Scienza dalla Luna Particelle Report al 14 12 2006

ASI
Science from the Moon
WP 1500 Particles and Fundamental Physics
Brief Report
AMES
January 2007
R. Battiston
Sez. INFN and University of
Perugia
Some consideration about the moon payloads
From the ASI and ESA call , as well as Moon Base conference (2006)
Sir,
with this Letter we respond to the “Call for themes for 2015-2025” opened by the Science Programme
of the European Space Agency in view of its future long term Scientific Programme.
……………….
The theme we propose is “Our Laboratory Moon” which is based on the exploitation of the unique
features of our satellite to study fundamental physics phenomena. Space means
exploration. Exploration in turn means searching for things never reached before. ………………
Signed R. B. + 30 INAF and INFN scientists
…………..
“Our Laboratory Moon”
Being there staying here
…………..
However the continuous technological advances in the field of telescience and virtual sensing
could brilliantly overcome this limit. The Moon, in fact, is the only celestial body which is
within 1.5 light seconds from us: this is a short enough time for electromagnetic waves,
which would allow the use of robotic tools operated from the Earth as simple extensions
of ground based operators arms, hands and senses, like in the case of telemedicine and like it
is not possible as in the case of Mars rovers, which are separated from us ~ 10 light minutes.
……………..
Many of these industrial processes can be developed and tested on Earth before trying it on the Moon,
where one would learn how to do it in the real conditions. The first series of missions will be
devoted to set up processing plants to extract basic components, like oxygen, aluminum and
water from the lunar soil and to set up the power generating and storing systems to sustain future
facilities through interruptions in solar availability. These missions should all aim to the same
location to the Moon, which has been identified as the area of “perpetual sun” near the South
Pole. Here hydrogen should also exist, although there is no agreement today on which form it
takes. The presence of hydrogen and perpetual sun, would make this location the most
advantageous for initial operation.
Additional missions, would add capabilities and instrumentations, with a philosophy which
would be highly interactive and flexible. It should be as we were there, through the
robots which are acting under our direct telecontrolling. This approach would allow
to tolerate losses and mistakes, which, although unavoidable in an highly research
oriented program, could have a tremendous damage and negative effects if humans
were involved directly. Telepresence on the Moon is the goal of this pioneering
program, allowing the rovers to operate like humans on tasks which would include
rover repair activities, assembly and configuration of experiments, continuous feed
back on many various parameters otherwise very difficult if not impossible to control
using predetermined algorithms.
…………
There are a lot of processes which would require, if performed in telepresence on
the Moon, rethinking with respect on the Earth: the reduced gravity, absence of
atmosphere, extreme temperature, limited facilities available, will call for
simplification of manipulation and complexity of the processing. It will be like the
dawn of a new age, not based on stones or fire or bronze, but more likely on solar
radiation, hydrogen and aluminum. Tooling will be adjusted to the new tasks and
conditions, in particular thermal condition would be of extreme relevance. Solar
furnaces would be a common tool, soils would be heated to form glass and to shape
rods, tubes and fibers. Sintering could be used instead of melting for a number of
applications.
Machines shop capability could be gradually added to work on the various materials
and ceramics built on the moon, adding tremendous flexibility to modify and repair
existing equipment or to build new one. Experiments could then be created without
waiting for another launch, reducing the turn around time for engineers and scientists
to see their ideas become reality from decades to days. More sophisticated
machining methods, like electron beam or plasma will be easily implemented
because of the presence of vacuum.
We anticipate a strong public attention to the progress on a moon
laboratory program based on telepresence. Public attention is
particularly strong when space exploration is connected to humans
but also to human related activities, like risk, error, trial, ingenuity.
This explains why the public interest is as high as for a human
mission, and may be even higher when a Mars rover lands or takes
the first photograph of a stone, or even get lost on Mars. A lunar
telepresence laboratory would bring daily new stories, about issues
which are very close to everybody experience; it would allow to
share some of the thoughts, decisions, trials; it would allow wide
sharing through the internet of finding and results; it might allow
sharing of lunar telepresence, which would set an unprecedented
tool for a wide audience of non astronauts. In addition to the
interest for new results about our universe, which is, in our
opinion, the main reason for supporting this theme, public
participation to this long term program would be very beneficial
for ESA and space exploration in general.
40 cm of regolith
 T=-20 ± 3 C
Beneath 40 cm of regolith you can have all
the benefits of being on the moon
BUT
to be in a stable cold environment as in a
Underground Laboratory as the INFN
Gran Sasso
1500 PARTICELLE
SCIENCE
THEMES
WP1500
High Energy Gamma
Rays
Very Promising
Particelle
Extremely High Energy
High Energy Neutrinos
(a)
Advanced/completed
Started/ongoing
Interesting
Extremely High Energy
High Energy Neutrinos
(b)
Interesting
High Energy Cosmic
Rays
Promising
Solar plasma properties
(a)
Plasma interaction with
planetary surface (b)
1 Very Promising
Grav itational wav es (a)
Interesting
2 Promising
Grav itational wav es (b)
Interesting
3 Interesting
Fundamental physics
tests
Very promising
WP1510 High Energy Gamma Rays
F. Cervelli INFN Pisa
WP 1510 MISURE NEI GAMMA F. CERVELLI / P. LUBRANO
SCIENCE
THEMES
High Energy Gamma Rays Measures
SUB THEMES
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
OBJECTIVES
Fundamental Physics
Very-High Energy Acceleration
Processes
Discovery of new particles
DETAILED SCIENCE
OBJECTIVES
Detection of Gamma
Rays by using the lunar
regolith like a passive
material to build an
electromagnetic
calorimeter to measure
energy and direction of
particles
Sito
Detector inside the
lunar ground
MEASUREMENTS
Scintillator bars in the lunar
ground within the holes of 20
mm in diameter, which
distance between them is
about 5 cm (or 10 cm). The
hole depth is 10 cm for the
first circumference (which
radius is 10 cm), 20 cm for
the second, 30 for the third
etc. up
Requirements
Range /sensitivity
1 - 300
.--> energetic
GeV
resolution
20%/Sqrt(E)
--> angular
resolution
< 1 degree
Using the regolith to build a multi
ton EM calorimeter on the Moon
WP 1520 Raggi Cosmici
P. Spillantini Firenze, T. Brunetti Perugia
WP 1520 MISURE RAGGI COSMCI DI BASSA/MEDIA/ALTA ENERGIA P. MARROCCHESI / B. BERTUCCI
SCIENCE
SUB
THEMES
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
OBJECTIVES
THEMES
High Energy Cosmic Rays Measure
DETAILED SCIENCE
OBJECTIVES
SITO
MEAS
Require
UREM
ments
ENTS
Range
Fundamental Physics
Ultra-High Energy Acceleration
Processes
Sensitivity
Coverage
Moon surface
Large
Cosmic Rays composition
and
10^13Exposure
Charge,
acceptanc
in correspondence with underground
10^16
factor
>
Energy,
e
> 10
the knee (10^15 eV)
in a flat
eV
10.000 m2 sr d
m2 sr
region
First generation particle detectors on the Moon for a lunar cosmic ray
observatory.
P. Spillantini, University and INFN, Firenze (Italy)
Abstract
A complete program at the forefront of the space science and technology should include a set of Moon
based observatories to explore any aspect of the Universe, and the Moon based observation of
cosmic rays must be part of this program. Thinking to the Moon as a huge Space Station, the
installation of experiments in a location suitable equipped on its surface should compensate for
the cost of the Earth to Moon transportation. In this perspective it is discussed what could be
obtained installing on the future Moon Base the experiments selected in the last two decades but
never flown for several reason, among them the high cost of the spacecraft. They could be
considered the basic instruments, whose evolution will constitute the ‘first generation Moon based
CR experiments’. They are discussed for the five typical ‘categories’ already used in the
Washington workshop: high Z, rare isotopes, antiparticles and antinuclei, composition at the knee,
UHECR. It is also discussed the importance of establishing on the Moon a CR monitoring system
for alarming for violent solar events and monitoring the GCR flux and spectra. Finally are
mentioned examples of specific technical developments needed for CR detection system on the
Moon.
•
What detectors for the first CR experiments on the Moon?
• Therefore we’ll begin by discussing what could be obtained just installing on a future
Moon Base the CR experiments selected in the last two decades by different
Institutions and Space Agencies, arrived sometimes at the stage of prototypes or
precursors, but never flown for the lack either of flight occasions or of suitable carriers
or of the needed total final investment. In the perspective of the Moon Base program
these experiments could be called ‘zero generation Moon based’ experiments, whose
evolution constitute the ‘first generation Moon based experiments’, subject of this
report..
• Let in the discussion use the same ‘categories’ used in the Washington workshop [8],
i.e.:
•
•
•
•
•
measurement of the fluxes of very high and extremely high Z CR;
measurement of the fluxes and energy spectra of the rare CR
isotopes;
measurement of the fluxes and energy spectra of the antiparticles and
search for antinuclei;
measurement of the CR composition at the ‘knee’;
measurement of the fluxes and energy spectra of the Ultra High
Energies CR.
WP 1530 High Energy neutrinos
A. Petrolini INFN Genova
WP 1530 MISURE NEUTRINI DI ENERGIA ESTREMA A. PETROLINI , P. SPILLANTINI
SCIENCE
SCIENCE
AND
SUB
TECHNOLO
THEMES
GY
OBJECTIVE
S
DETAILED SCIENCE
OBJECTIVES
SITO
MEASUREMENTS
THEMES
Very high energy neutrinos (a)
Fundamental
Physics
Ultra-High
Energy
Acceleration
Processes
Discovery of
new particles
Very high energy neutrinos (b)
Fundamental
Physics
Ultra-High
Energy
Acceleration
Processes
Discovery of
new particles
Detection of fast
coherent Cherenkov
radio-pulses emitted by
Lunar
particles showers
satellite
produced by the
Orbital
interaction of Ultra-High height: (100Energy Cosmic
500) km
Particles with the lunar
regolith.
Detection of fast
coherent Cherenkov
radio-pulses emitted by
particles showers
At the Moon
produced by the
surface.
interaction of Ultra-High
Energy Cosmic
Particles with the lunar
regolith.
Large acceptance (towards the Moon
limb) and almost isotropic apparatus.
1) Three dipole aerials in orthogonal
configuration.
2) Other configurations.
Almost horizontal observation
Requirement
s
Range
Sensitivity
Coverage
Frequency
range:
0.01÷1.0 GHz
Bandwidth:
(100-400)
MHz
Pmin
< -140
dBm/Hz
Large
acceptance
Frequency
range:
0.01÷1.0 GHz
Bandwidth:
(100-400)
Mhz
2p coverage
in azimuth.
The study of Ultra-High Energy neutrinos from the Moon
Report after three months
O. Catalano, S. Bottai, P. Galeotti, A. Gregorio, R. Pesce, A. Petrolini, P. Spillantini and P. Vallania.
Contact persons
•
•
•
•
•
The scientific case and status of the field
Neutrinos are fundamental particles which still present
a number of unknown features, after about fifty years
from their discovery. In fact neutrinos interact so
weakly that their detection, that is their study, requires
huge targets, of the order of cubic kilometers at least,
to observe a significant number of events.
Although neutrino telescopes are already in operation,
no UHEnu has been reported, yet.
Large volumes of the atmosphere, sea, polar ice or
salt rock are used or planned for experiments at the
Earth.
The Moon itself provides a possible huge appealing
target for detecting such particles.
The study of Ultra-High Energy neutrinos from the Moon
(2)
•
•
. Due to their weak interactions neutrinos can easily escape their production
environment, carrying outside the information on the generating processes
at the interiors of the source. On the other hand the weakness of their
interaction with matter prevents an easy detection and requires very huge
target masses (larger than about 1015 g, that is 1 km3 of water) to detect
their presence.
Several techniques have been proposed and used to discover the extremely
rare signature of astrophysical neutrinos. The experiments of the first
generation did not register any events (as expected by their small
dimension) establishing upper limits to UHE neutrino fluxes [18]. The key
point to increase the sensitivity and discover weaker fluxes of neutrinos is
the amount of target mass and the only possibility is to detect signals of
neutrino interactions inside natural detectors, such as the sea (experiments
Antares and NEMO), the Antartic ice (experiments Amanda, Icecube and
RICE), the atmosphere (experiments AUGER and EUSO), salt domes
(experiments SALSA) and the Moon regolith, as it is seen from Earth
(GLUE).
Coherent radio Cherenkov detection of UHEnu
• An interesting approach to observe UHE Cosmic Particles, which is
receiving increased attention nowadays thanks to its interesting and
promising features, involves the detection of the short radio pulses
produced by the EPS which is generated by the interaction of the
primary Cosmic Particles with the surface of the Moon.
• The current literature suggests that the coherent radio pulses, in the
(0.011) GHz frequency range, generated in the lunar regolith travel
without a significant attenuation, and are capable to escape the
interiors of the Moon to be detected from outside the Moon.
• The appealing characteristics of the Moon for this kind of experiment
are:
– the low expected radio-background;
– the possibility to observe the signal from an observation point much
closer to the signal source with respect to the observations from the
Earth, via radio-telescopes.
EPS in the Moon regolith
•
Part of the energy of the EPS is released in the form of
electromagnetic radiation as a coherent radio
Cherenkov emission (Askaryan effect). The nominal
Cherenkov angle is about  = 54, around the EPS
direction, which is well collimated with the direction of
the primary neutrino. The emitted radio waves have an
angular spread around the Cherenkov angle due both
to the spread of direction of the emitting particles in the
EPS and to the finite track length of the emitting
particles and of the EPS, which is comparable to the
emitted wavelength at frequencies of a few hundreds
of MHz or above.
Detection of coherent Cherenkov radio from
lunar orbiters
Detection on the moon
• comparison with terrestrial apparatus like SALSA is not
in favour of a surface Moon detector.
antennas
Moon surface
10km
regolith
~ 10-20 m
shower
Requirements for the
instrumental apparatus
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The frequency range of interest spans the range   {0.12} GHz
with a bandwidth   50 MHz.
A radio detection system with a large acceptance solid angle (up
to an almost isotropic one) is required:   2 sr.
The minimum sensitivity required to the radio detection system is
about S  0.01 (V/m)/MHz.
Detection of the polarization of the radio-wave is required.
Angular resolution of the order of one degree is required:   10
mrad.
Time-resolution of the radio-receiver apparatus at the ns level is
required.
Simultaneous measurements in different spectral bands is
required.
Types of antennas and sensitivity
The limitations of a lunar
satellite based experiment
Lunar satellite detectors can detect signals from neutrino induced
EPS inside a very huge target mass. However, at variance with
respect to what happens at the Earth, due to the fact that protons can
reach the surface of the Moon, many events are expected to be
generated by protons, too. There are limits in the possibility to use
the shape of the signal to distinguish neutrinos from protons.
The main difference of proton and neutrino EPS arise in the depth
inside the Lunar regolith, but the possibility to measure it
geometrically by a satellite seems very hard. Probably only a
constellation of more than 3 satellites looking at the same event could
in principle afford such measurement. The feasibility of such
possibility still must be studied.
The limitations of a lunar
satellite based experiment
• In case a threshold as low as 1016eV can be reached, the apparatus
might see neutrinos coming from the centre of the Moon. Due to
geometrical considerations it would be very difficult for the radiation
produced by down-going protons on the nadir of the satellite to
reach the antenna. So in this configuration the proton background
should be reconsidered.
• Another limitation of a Moon satellite detector will be the
reconstruction of EPS direction. Due to the geometry of the
Cherenkov emission is difficult to constrain the possible axis
directions using only one or a few measurements far away. The
resulting pointing accuracy is worst than ten degree and this aspect,
if not solved in some way, might prevent the possibility to detect and
identify point sources of neutrinos.
WP1540 Solar Plasma measurements
R. Bruno INAF IFSI Roma
WP 1540 PROPRIETA' DEL PLASMA SOLARE R. BRUNO
SCIENCE
THEMES
Solar wind plasma properties
SUB THEMES
solar wind
observations
on board a
lunar orbiter
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
OBJECTIVES
plasma interaction with non-magnetized
bodies
DETAILED SCIENCE
MEASUREMENTS
Requirements
Coverage/resoluti
Range /sensitivity
OBJECTIVES
on
Study of pick-up ions of lunar
protons, alphas
20eVdE/E=5%
4, 0.1sec
origin deriving from the volatile and minor ions
40KeV
components
of the lunar soil generated from
the "ion sputtering" phenomenon
differential diffusion of solar wind
protons and electrons within the
"lunar wake"
study of magnetosphere
dynamics during magnetosheath,
plasma-sheet, lobes e far tail
crossings
coordinated study using earth
orbiting satellites and satellites
located at L1 within
the framework of space weather
planetary surfaces and solar wind plasma interaction
observations
of a
planetary
exosphere
onboard a
lunar orbiter
study of the ion-sputtering process
responsible for generating planetary
exospheres
estimate of the global mass loss
(especially of the most volatile)
from the
unmagnetized body
evaluation of the planetary
surface alteration due to the
solar wind impact
("space weathering")
neutral atoms
20 eV-5
keV
about 60x2
degrees nadir
pointing, 1 min
WP 1550 Gravitational Waves
Michele Punturo INFN Perugia
550 ONDE GRAVITAZIONALI M. PUNTURO
SCIENCE
THEMES
Gravitational Waves
SUB THEMES
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
OBJECTIVES
DETAILED SCIENCE
OBJECTIVES
MEASUREMENTS
Quadrupolar
Moon resonant Identification of the GW sources in the mHz Gravitational physics of massive resonant modes
modes
range; Definition of the sensitivity
binary systems far from the
measurement
measurement
performances; understanding of the noise
coalescence
sources; evaluation of the possible
measurement instrumentation
(displacement sensors)
Interferometric
detector
Identification of the GW sources in the Hz
Gravitational physics of 1Hz
region; definition of the sensitivity
sources (known pulsars, massive
performances at different frequencies;
binary systems,…) at
evaluation of the possible detector
cosmological distance;
technologies
coincidence wit terrestrial
detectors for angular
measurements
Michelson
interferometer
Requirements
Range /sensitivity
2-3
mhz
Coverage/resoluti
on
full sky / depending
on the number of
surface detectors
1-100
Hz
full sky
WP 1560A Quantum
Interferometers and Atomic Clocks
Guglielmo Tino Universita’/INFN Firenze
WP 1560 TEST DI FISICA FONDAMENTALE G. TINO
SCIENCE
SUB THEMES
SCIENCE AND
THEMES
TECHNOLOGY
Tests of Fundamental Inertial sensors based on Gravitational waves
Physics
atom interferometry
detection in the mHz
range using the Moon as
spherical
resonant
Tests of GR
Particle detection
through epilinear
moonquakes
Optical clocks on the
Moon
SITO
MEASUREMENTS
DETAILED
SCIENCE
Gravitational physics of Network of sensors on Quadrupolar resonant
2-10 mHz
massive binary systems Moon surface
modes measurement
far from the coalescence
through differential
gravity
acceleration
Test of Pricniple of
Moon surface
Acceleration
0-1 g
measurement
with
Equivalence at 10-15
different Rb isotopes
in free fall
Search for strange quark Moon surface
Detection of seismic
matter and particle
waves
sources outside solar
system causing high
Measurement of the
Test the gravitational red- Moon surface (near side) Frequency difference
gravitational frequency shift prediction at 10-8
shift
level by comparing a
clock on the Moon
surface and a clock
Search for possible time Search for possible
Moon surface (near side) Frequency difference
variation of the physical variation of fundamental
constant with time and constant by comparing a
space
clock on the Moon
surface with different
Two-way optical link
Optical time and
Moon surface (near side)
(asynchronous
frequency tranfer
transponder on the
between Moon and
Moon)
Earth at below 10-17
Requirements
Range /sensitivity
10-15 g
1 mHz to 10 Hz
10-15 g
10-10 g at 1 sec
visible spectrum
0.5 Hz at 1 sec. (10-15
3 10^14 - 6 10^14 Hz at 1 s)
0.001
Hz accuracy (10-17)
Atom Interferometers
de Broglie wave dB=h/mv
LONGITUDINAL PULSES
-no area enclosed
-used to measure
accelerations (GRAVIMETERS)
ωR1
TRANSVERSAL PULSES
-the interferometer encloses an area
-used to measure rotations (GYROSCOPES)
|2
|1
|2
D
|2
ωR1
|1
B
C
|1
|2
A
|1
|1
ωR2
With an acceleration g,
the phase difference
=2keff.
(a-2( x v)) T2
where k is the laser
wavenumber and T
the time interval
between laser pulses
|2
With an acceleration g,
the phase difference
=keffg
T2
where k is the laser
wavenumber and T
the time interval
between laser pulses
|1
C
B
|2
|1
A
D
|1
ωR2
Matter-wave vs light
interferometry
2
accelerations:
Theoretical
sensitivity
rotations:
  11 17


mat c


~

10

10




v

ph
at


m



c
10
mat
at
~

5

10


h
ph
Current performances
Acceleration
Rotation
• Bias stability: <10-10 g
• Bias stability: <60 deg/hr
• Noise: 4x10-9 g/Hz1/2
• Noise (ARW): 4 deg/hr1/2
• Scale Factor: 10-12
• Scale Factor: <5 ppm
Possible Experiments on Moon
• Fundamental Physics
- Gravitational Waves detection through moon quadrupolar resonant modes
- Detection of Strange Quark Matter nuggets through epilinear moonquakes
- Tests of General Relativity (Principle of Equivalence)
• Technology
- Gravimeters absolute calibration
- Navigation (gyroscopes, accelerometers)
• Moon is an ultra-quiet natural environment
- very low seismic energy
- no tidal or teptonic effects
Low gravity
increase Tdrift
improve sensitivity
Optical Clocks on Moon
• Moon is an ultra-quiete natural environment
-
very low seismic energy
no atmosphere
no tidal or teptonic effects
good temperature stability (30 cm below surface)
best environment for new optical frequency standards
Proposal: Frequency comparison between a clock on the Moon
surface and clock on the Earth (two way optical link between the
two clocks)
• Scientific Goals:
- Test of General Relativity (gravitational red-shift) @ 10-8 (4000 times better than GP-A)
- Test of String theories (variation of fundamental constant) (da/dt)/a @ 10-17 /yr (10
times better than ACES proposal)
Why Optical
• Fractional
frequency instability
(Allan variance)
 y ( ) 
Cs = 9,192 ... GHz
Opt. Clock  400 - 1000 THz
 rms
0


1 1
Q S N
TC

QCs ~ 1010
QOpt. Clock ~ 1014 - 1015
MW vs. Optical
Today best microwave atomic clocks
(Cs fountain):
- accuracy  8 10-16
- stability (1 s)  1.5 10-14
Optical clocks (expected
performances):
- accuracy < 10-17
- stability (1 s) < 10-16
Optical Clocks on Moon
• Fundamental Physics
- Test of General Relativity (gravitational red-shift)
- Test of String theories (variation of fundamental constant)
• Technology
- Clock comparison (redefinition of the SI second, …)
- Deep space navigation and positioning, VLBI, laser
ranging, …
All this kind of experiment involving ultra-stable laser sources, and ultra-cold atoms in space will
benefit from the ACES and LISA project, which has requested significant engineering efforts.
WP 1560B Lunar Laser Ranging
Simone Dell’Agnello LNF
Test di fisica fondamentale
Robotic
MoonLIGHT
(Moon LIGHT
Instrumentation
for Highaccuracy Tests):
second
generation lunar
laser ranging with
robotic
deplyoment. The
manned version
of MoonLIGHT
has been
proposed to
NASA on Oct27-2006.
Dinamica interna
della luna
Very high accuracy
measurement of the
Earth-Moon distance
in the next few
decades for highaccuracy test of
General Relativity and
brane world theories
(Dvali et al, PRD 68,
024012 (2003), "The
accelerated universe
and the Moon"). The
optical ranging unce
Improvement of
present GR
measurements of:
1) Weak
Equivalence
Principle, 2) Strong
Equivalence
Principle, 3)
Gdot/G, 4) De
Sitter effect, ie
measurement of
PPN parameter
beta, at present the
most precise, 5)
violation of the
1/r^2 law below
10^(-10) time
Measurement of the
position of an array of
8 retro-reflectors of
large size (10 cm), on
an area of 100 m x
100 m. Interference
measurements will be
possible, unlike for the
Apollo 11, 14, 15
arrays.
Existing lunar laser
ranging stations, one of
them is in Matera
(MLRO-ASI). The
station in Los Alamos,
APOLLO (Apache
POint Lunar Laser
ranging Observatory) is
the one which will
benefit immediately
from the MoonLIGHT
devices. Stations which
will upgrade
From 0.1 mm
Coverage larger that the lunar
accuracy on the Apollo mission 11, 14, and
Earth-Moon distance 15. Accuracy up to a factor
(using the JPL
1000 better. Intrinsic ranging
standard orbit
accuracy limited by
determinaion
wavelength. Other sources of
techniques) with error will become the
existing lunar ranging mechanical stability of the
stations, down to few installation and the control of
microns (ONLY of the the
the ranging
component of the
error) with future
shorter-pulse lasers.
Errors will al
Transponders
posizionati per
effettuare misure
accuratissime di
distanze relative sulla
Interferometro a
microonde
Tre transponders in
Tre transponders in banda KA
banda KA posizionati banda KA posizionati
a 1000 km di distanza, a 1000 km di distanza,
interrogati da una
interrogati da una
stazione posta a terra
stazione posta a terra
0,1 mm di precisione sulla
distanza relativa tra i
transponder ottenuta
cancellando gli effetti
atmosferici e ionosferici
MoonLIGHT:
MOON LASER INSTRUMENTATION FOR GENERAL
RELATIVITY HIGH-ACCURACY TESTS
C. Cantone, S. Dell’Agnello, G. O. Delle Monache, M. Garattini, N. Intaglietta
Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) dell’INFN, Frascati (Rome), ITALY
R. Vittori
Italian Air Force, Rome, ITALY
LNF–06/ 28 (IR)
November 1, 2006
• From the abstract …….
– a proposal (to NASA) for improving by a factor 1000 or more the
accuracy of the current Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) experiment
(performed in the last 37 years using the retro-reflector arrays
deployed on the Moon by the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 missions).
Achieving such an improvement requires a modified thermal,
optical and mechanical design of the retro-reflector array and
detailed experimental tests. The new experiment will allow a rich
program of accurate tests of General Relativity already with
current laser ranging systems. This accuracy will get better and
better as the performance of laser technologies improve over the
next few decades, like they did relentlessly since the ‘60s.
Multimirror panel and thermal
measurements
The accelerated universe and the Moon
Gia Dvali, Andrei Gruzinov, and Matias Zaldarriaga
Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University,
New York, New York 10003, USA
• Cosmologically motivated theories that explain the small
acceleration rate of the Universe via the modification of
gravity at very large, horizon, or superhorizon distances,
can be tested by precision gravitational measurements
at much shorter scales, such as the Earth-Moon
distance. Contrary to the naive expectation the predicted
corrections to the Einsteinian metric near gravitating
sources are so significant that they might fall within the
sensitivity of the proposed Lunar Ranging experiments.
The key reason for such corrections is the van Dam–
Veltman–Zakharov discontinuity present in linearized
versions of all such theories, and its subsequent
absence at the nonlinear level in the manner of
Vainshtein.
Status of the Moonlight proposal
• La versione manned (MonLIGHT-M) e' stata
sottoposta alla NASA il 27 Ottobre 2006. PI e'
Doug Currie (University of Maryland) e S.dell’
Agnello e’ Co-PI. La decisione della NASA e'
attesa per primavera 2007.
• In questo contesto e’ stato proposta una
“Suitcase Science to the Moon”
• Si propone nell’ ambito dello studio ASI,
MoonLIGHT-R (Robotic version of MoonLIGHT)
New area of interest: particle detection
using moon seismology (under study)
C. Fidani INFN Perugia
•
Particles detection (strangelets, nuggets) on the moon through the
study of epilinear moonquakes (Banerdt, Chui et al 2005)
– It was pointed out in 1984 by Witten that strange quark matter (SQM) – matter
made of up, down, and strange quarks (rather than just up and down, as are
protons and neutrons) – might well be stable and the lowest energy state of
matter. The reason is that it would be electrically neutral and have less PauliPrinciple repulsion. Binding would increase with numbers of quarks, and might
not begin below thousands. It would have nuclear density. Neutron stars would
be strange quark stars; and it might conceivably constitute dark matter. One way
to detect ton-range SQM nuggets (SQNs) would be from seismic signals they
would make passing through the Earth. We give a rough estimate on the relative
advantage of attempting to detect SQNs on the Moon over Earth (about 50 times
more detections).
•
Extrasolar causes for certain moonquakes (Frohlich, Nakamura, 2006)
– Reanalysis of lunar seismic data collected during the Apollo program indicates
that 23 of the 28 rare events known as high-frequency teleseismic (HFT) events
or shallow moonquakes occurred during one-half of the sidereal month when the
seismic network on the Moon’s near side faced approximately towards right
ascension of 12 h on the celestial sphere. Statistical analysis demonstrates that
there is about a 1% probability that this pattern would occur by chance. An
alternate possibility is that high-energy objects from a fixed source outside the
Solar System trigger or even cause the HFT events.