Abstract
Laser ionization mass spectrometry is one of the most promising methods for analysis of the elemental and isotopic composition of solids in space experiments: the required instruments are highly reliable and easy to operate, no sample preparation is needed, and the spatial resolution of this method is relatively high. In view of this, the LASMA-LR laser ionization mass spectrometer was included into the list of instruments for the future Luna-Glob (Luna-25) and Luna-Resurs-1 (Luna-27) missions, where it will be used to examine the elemental and isotopic composition of lunar regolith at the landing sites. The accuracy of LASMA-LR measurements depends to a considerable extent on the size of the statistical sample of the spectral dataset. This defines the temporal parameters of operation of the mass spectrometer in a space experiment. A series of spectra of enstatite (mineral found in lunar regolith) was measured, and the instrumental accuracy of measurements with spectral datasets of different sizes was estimated. It was demonstrated that an elemental analysis accuracy of 10% is achieved by processing a set of 300 spectra, which corresponds to ~4 h of continuous LASMA-LR operation. A measurement accuracy of 1% for isotopic distributions is achieved within the same 4-hour period only for isotopes with ratios no higher than 10 : 1, while the same accuracy for isotopes with higher ratios requires an unfeasibly long analysis time.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank Peter Wurz, the head of the Space Research & Planetary Sciences Department of the Physics Institute of the University of Bern, for providing the enstatite sample for analysis.
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Chumikov, A.E., Cheptsov, V.S. & Managadze, N.G. Accuracy of Analysis of the Elemental and Isotopic Composition of Regolith by Laser Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry in the Future Luna-Glob and Luna-Resurs-1 Missions. Sol Syst Res 54, 288–294 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094620030028
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094620030028