Instrument Suites
“Mordor” Ultra-high Vacuum System
"Mordor" Instrument Suite Details
Named after Charon’s Mordor Macula terrain
- Cryopumped 3-tier Chamber
- 4K Janis compressed He cryostat mounted on a differentially-pumped rotational + XYZ stages
- 6 MHz Quartz Crystal Microbalance
- Collimated Micro-capillary array gas dosers
- McPherson 234-302 far-ultraviolet monochromator coupled to an Opthos Microwave Discharge Lamp and a 5901 Magnum Spiraltron Detector
- Thermo-Nicolet is50 FTIR with various detector options [MCT-A, InGaAS, DTLaGS]
- Ocean Optics Dual Tungsten-Halogen Source fiber-coupled to a Maya Pro CCD Backlit Si Detector
- Spectral Range: 0.1 -16 μm
- Extrel 300 amu Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer with an 90º off-axis energy filter
- Extorr 200 amu Residual Gas Analyzer
- 10 keV Kimball Physics Electron Gun with built-in Faraday Cup
- 5 keV Nonsequitur Ion Gun with Electromagnetic Wien Filter
Research Threads
- Charon’s Spectacular Red Polar Albedo
- Europa’s Dark Ultraviolet Albedo
- Funded by New Frontier Data Analysis Program
“Thrace” Ultra-high Vacuum System
Research Thread
- Europa’s Brines
Gas Capture System
Research Threads
- Gas Capture Device to Improve Sensitivity and Selectivity of Mass Spectrometers
- Funded by SwRI’s Internal Research & Development
“ROSE” Regolith Optical Sorption Experiments
Ultrahigh Vacuum System
Research Threads
- Effects of Space Weathering on Volatile Sorption Potential of Apollo soils
- Funded by SSW
SwURC – Southwest Ultraviolet Reflectance Chamber
Southwest Ultraviolet Reflectance Chamber (SwURC) – Instrument Suite Details
- Maglev Turbo-pumped Chamber
- McPherson 234-302 far-ultraviolet monochromator coupled to a 30 W Deuterium Lamp
- 4K ‘vibration-free’ Janis closed-cycle Helium cryostat mounted on a linear translator
- 5901 Magnum Spiraltron Detector mounted on a Goniometer
- Collimated Micro-capillary array gas doser to infuse lunar soils and simulants with volatiles
- Absolute bi-directional reflectance measurements capability over 115- 200 nm range
Research Threads
- Far-ultraviolet spectro-photometry of Apollo-era soils and lunar simulants
- Volatile-infused Apollo soils
- Funded by Lunar Data Analysis Program and LRO-LAMP