The Lunar Lander Neutron and Dosimetry (LND) Experiment on Chang’E 4

• Published in: Space science reviews Vol. 216; no. 6
• Main Authors: Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F., Yu, Jia, Böttcher, Stephan I., Zhang, Shenyi, Burmeister, Sönke, Lohf, Henning, Guo, Jingnan, Xu, Zigong, Schuster, Björn, Seimetz, Lars, Freiherr von Forstner, Johan L., Ravanbakhsh, Ali, Knierim, Violetta, Kolbe, Stefan, Woyciechowski, Hauke, Kulkarni, Shrinivasrao R., Yuan, Bin, Shen, Guohong, Wang, Chunqing, Chang, Zheng, Berger, Thomas, Hellweg, Christine E., Matthiä, Daniel, Hou, Donghui, Knappmann, Alke, Büschel, Charlotte, Hou, Xufeng, Ren, Baoguo, Fu, Qiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aerospace Technology and Astronautics; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Dosimeters; Dosimetry; Fast neutrons; Lunar far side; Lunar regolith; Lunar surface; Lunar surface vehicles; Moisture content; Moon; Neutrons; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Planetology; Radiation; Regolith; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Spacecraft; Special Communication; Subsurface water; Thermal neutrons; Water content; Neutrons; Exploration; Dosimetry; Moon; Space radiation
• ISSN: 0038-6308; 1572-9672
• DOI: 10.1007/s11214-020-00725-3

Chang’E 4 is the first mission to the far side of the Moon and consists of a lander, a rover, and a relay spacecraft. Lander and rover were launched at 18:23 UTC on December 7, 2018 and landed in the von Kármán crater at 02:26 UTC on January 3, 2019. Here we describe the Lunar Lander Neutron & Dosimetry experiment (LND) which is part of the Chang’E 4 Lander scientific payload. Its chief scientific goal is to obtain first active dosimetric measurements on the surface of the Moon. LND also provides observations of fast neutrons which are a result of the interaction of high-energy particle radiation with the lunar regolith and of their thermalized counterpart, thermal neutrons, which are a sensitive indicator of subsurface water content.