Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface (NILS) instrument is a compact mass resolving negative ion and electron analyser flown on the Chinese Chang’E-6 mission to the Moon. NILS measures negative ions an electrons in the energy range of 3 eV/q to 3 keV/q with a mass resolution of m/Δm of about 2. The mass resolution is sufficient to separate charge converted solar wind protons and sputtered negatively charged atoms form the surface. An electro-magnetic electron suppression system allows to switch between electron and ion measurements. The fan-shaped field-of-view is divided into 16 discrete angular pixels that are scanned sequentially. For each viewing direction, an electron and an ion energy spectrum is acquired in 4.06 s. NILS has a mass of 919 g, excluding cables and multi-layer insulation. The power consumption is on average 2.7 W during nominal operations.
Source: Space Science Reviews
Authors: Romain Canu-Blot, Martin Wieser, Maté Kérényi, Stas Barabash, Xiao-Dong Wang, Thomas Maynadié, Aibing Zhang, Wenjing Wang, Neil Melville, Qiong Wang, Yongliao Zou, Hao Dou, Hanyou Zhu, Vesa Alatalo, Andreas Edström, Leif Kalla, Stefan Karlsson, Magnus Oja, Jonas Olsen, Joakim Peterson, Daniel Stålnacke, David Upton
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,290
Funder: European Space Agency
Award: G884444912
OpenAlex ID: W4409438876