Development of the probing in-situ with Neutron and Gamma rays (PING) instrument for planetary science applications
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- Ann, Parsons; Bodnarik, Julia; Burger, Dan; Evans, Larry; Floyd, Samuel; Lim, Lucy; McClanahan, Timothy; Namkung, Min; Nowicki, Suzanne; Schweitzer, Jeffrey; Starr, Richard; Trombka, Jacob
- Source
- 2011 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC), 2011 IEEE. :1234-1238 Oct, 2011
- Subject
- Nuclear Engineering
Bioengineering
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Computing and Processing
Signal Processing and Analysis
NASA
Zirconium
Barium
Artificial intelligence
Iron
Instruments
Strontium
- Language
- ISSN
- 1082-3654
This paper describes the testing of a prototype active neutron/ gamma ray instrument for use in planetary science space applications. The Probing In situ with Neutrons and Gamma rays (PING) instrument can measure the full bulk elemental composition of a planet's surface over a 1 m 2 area and down to 30 – 50 cm depth without the need to drill into the surface material. PING consists of three components: a pulsed neutron generator that emits 14 MeV neutrons that penetrate the surface and excite the nuclei of the planetary material; a gamma ray spectrometer that measures the energy and intensity of the gamma rays emitted by these nuclear reactions; and neutron detectors to measure the neutron moderation properties of the material. PING is tested on Earth at a unique facility near NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center where PING can be safely operated outdoors and unshielded sitting atop large (1.8m × 1.8m × .9m), well-characterized granite and basalt monuments. We will describe both this test facility and our experiments, and present gamma ray spectroscopy results that demonstrate PING's capabilities.