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We describe the development of an instrument capable of detailed in situ bulk geochemical analysis of the surface of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets. This instrument technology uses a pulsed neutron generator to excite the solid materials of a planet and measures the resulting neutron and gamma-ray emission with its detector system. These time-resolved neutron and gamma-ray data provide detailed information about the bulk elemental composition, chemical context, and density distribution of the soil within 50 cm of the surface. While active neutron scattering and neutron-induced gamma-ray techniques have been used extensively for terrestrial nuclear well logging applications, our goal is to apply these techniques to surface instruments for use on any solid solar system body. As described, experiments at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center use a prototype neutron-induced gamma-ray instrument and the resulting data presented show the promise of this technique for becoming a versatile, robust, workhorse technology for planetary science, and exploration of any of the solid bodies in the solar system. The detection of neutrons at the surface also provides useful information about the material. This paper focuses on the data provided by the gamma-ray detector.

Watering the Moon About a year ago, a spent upper stage of an Atlas rocket was deliberately crashed into a crater at the south pole of the Moon, ejecting a plume of debris, dust, and vapor. The goal of this event, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) experiment, was to search for water and other volatiles in the soil of one of the coldest places on the Moon: the permanently shadowed region within the Cabeus crater. Using ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectroscopy data from accompanying craft, Colaprete et al. (p. 463 ; see the news story by Kerr ; see the cover) found evidence for the presence of water and other volatiles within the ejecta cloud. Schultz et al. (p. 468 ) monitored the different stages of the impact and the resulting plume. Gladstone et al. (p. 472 ), using an ultraviolet spectrograph onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), detected H 2 , CO, Ca, Hg, and Mg in the impact plume, and Hayne et al. (p. 477 ) measured the thermal signature of the impact and discovered that it had heated a 30 to 200 square-meter region from ∼40 kelvin to at least 950 kelvin. Paige et al. (p. 479) mapped cryogenic zones predictive of volatile entrapment, and Mitrofanov et al. (p. 483 ) used LRO instruments to confirm that surface temperatures in the south polar region persist even in sunlight. In all, about 155 kilograms of water vapor was emitted during the impact; meanwhile, the LRO continues to orbit the Moon, sending back a stream of data to help us understand the evolution of its complex surface structures.

We present Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph observations of the optical transient (OT) counterpart of the gamma-ray burster GRB 000301C obtained 5 days after the burst, on 2000 March 6. CCD clear-aperture imaging reveals a R~=21.50+/-0.15 source with no apparent host galaxy. An 8000 s, 1150 Å18 on the line of sight to the OT. This measured redshift is conservatively a lower limit to the GRB redshift. However, as all other GRBs that have deep Hubble Space Telescope images appear to lie on the stellar field of a host galaxy, and as the large H I column density measured here and in later ground-based observations is unlikely on a random line of sight, we believe we are probably seeing absorption from H I in the host galaxy. In any case, this represents the largest direct redshift determination of a gamma-ray burster to date. Our data are compatible with an OT spectrum represented by a power law with an intrinsic index alpha=1.2 (fnu~nu-alpha) and no extinction in the host galaxy, or with alpha=0.5 and extinction by SMC-like dust in the OT rest frame with AV=0.15. The large NHI and the lack of a detected host are similar to the situation for damped Lyalpha absorbers at z>2. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

[1] Results are presented for the LEND instrument onboard LRO for the detection of local spots of suppression and excess of epithermal neutron emission at the lunar poles. Twelve local Neutron Suppression Regions (NSRs) and Neutron Excess Regions (NERs) are detected. It is shown using the data from the LOLA and Diviner instruments that six NSRs have the empirical property “less local irradiation and lower temperature – fewer local neutrons.” These NSRs may be identified with spots of water-ice rich permafrost on the Moon. It is shown that detected NSRs are include in both permanently shadowed and illuminated areas, and they are not coincident with Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) at the bottom of polar craters, as has been commonly expected before LEND presented neutron data with high spatial resolution.

Between 1996 July and 2002 April, one or more spacecraft of the interplanetary network detected 787 cosmic gamma-ray bursts that were also detected by the Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor and/or Wide-Field X-Ray Camera experiments aboard the BeppoSAX spacecraft. During this period, the network consisted of up to six spacecraft, and using triangulation, the localizations of 475 bursts were obtained. We present the localization data for these events., Comment: 89 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

Soft gamma repeaters are high-energy transient sources associated with neutron stars in young supernova remnants. They emit sporadic, short (~ 0.1 s) bursts with soft energy spectra during periods of intense activity. The event of March 5, 1979 was the most intense and the only clearly periodic one to date. Here we report on an even more intense burst on August 27, 1998, from a different soft gamma repeater, which displayed a hard energy spectrum at its peak, and was followed by a ~300 s long tail with a soft energy spectrum and a dramatic 5.16 s period. Its peak and time integrated energy fluxes at Earth are the largest yet observed from any cosmic source. This event was probably initiated by a massive disruption of the neutron star crust, followed by an outflow of energetic particles rotating with the period of the star. Comparison of these two bursts supports the idea that magnetic energy plays an important role, and that such giant flares, while rare, are not unique, and may occur at any time in the neutron star's activity cycle., Accepted for publication in Nature

We report major element composition ratios for regions of the asteroid 433 Eros imaged during two solar flares and quiet sun conditions during the period of May to July 2000. Low aluminum abundances for all regions argue against global differentiation of Eros. Magnesium/silicon, aluminum/silicon, calcium/silicon, and iron/silicon ratios are best interpreted as a relatively primitive, chondritic composition. Marked depletions in sulfur and possible aluminum and calcium depletions, relative to ordinary chondrites, may represent signatures of limited partial melting or impact volatilization.

The Gamma‐Ray Spectrometer (GRS) experiment on Mars Observer (MO) obtained approximately 2 months of net burst coverage during the cruise phase of the mission, before the spacecraft was lost. GRS triggered on an intense event that occurred on July 6, 1993 and the temporal data were used to direct a rapid VLA observation of the source region. A quick look at the spectral data for this event was made, but the counting statistics appear to preclude carrying out extensive spectral analysis. Sensitivity to narrow lines in the several‐hundred‐keV range is on the order of a few photons/cm2. The instrument also collected data in an untriggered mode during an additional 20 known events. Analyses are in progress.

The Transient Gamma‐Ray Spectrometer (TGRS) to be flown aboard the WIND spacecraft is primarily designed to perform high resolution spectroscopy of transient γ‐ray events, such as cosmic γ‐ray bursts and solar flares, over the energy range 15 keV to 8.2 MeV with an unexpected spectroscopic resolution of 2 keV at 1 MeV. The detector itself consists of a 215 cc high purity n‐type Ge crystal kept at cryogenic temperatures by a passive radiative cooler. The geometric field of view defined by the cooler is about 1.8 π steradian. To avoid continuous triggers caused by soft solar events, a thin BeCu sun‐shield around the sides of the cooler has been provided. A passive Mo/Pb occulter, which modulates signals from within ±5° of the ecliptic plane at the spacecraft spin frequency, is used to identify and study solar flares, as well as emission from the galactic plane and center.Thus, in addition to transient event measurements, the instrument will allow the search for possible diffuse background lines and monitor ...

A non-dispersive X-ray detection system consisting of proporticnal counters plus filters is being prepared for the Command-Service Module of the Apollo spacecraft as part of a “geochemistry“ package. It will detect solar induced characteristic X-rays from the abundant elements on the lunar surface during the orbiting phases of the mission. The objective will be a compilation of a map of the lunar chemical composition and to detect regional differences. The system and its theoretical performance are described.

Cosmic‐ray primary and secondary particles induce characteristic gamma‐ray and neutron emissions from condensed bodies in our solar system. These characteristic emissions can be used to obtain qualitative and quantitative elemental analyses of planetary surfaces from orbital altitudes. Remote sensing gamma‐ray spectroscopy has been successfully used to obtain elemental composition of the Moon and Mars during United States Apollo 15 and 16 missions and the Soviet Luna and Mars missions. A remote sensing gamma‐ray and neutron spectrometer will be included aboard the United States Mars Observer Mission. If proper care is not taken in the design of the spectrometer and choice of materials in the construction of the detector system and spacecraft, the sensitivity of these remote sensing spectrometers can be greatly degraded. A discussion of these design and material selection problems is presented.