Alpha-particle spectrometer experiment

Abstract

Observation of lunar radon emanation during the Apollo 15 and 16 missions shows the existence of areas with locally high emanation rates. The most conspicuous Rn-222 feature found in the data analysis is a region that includes Aristarchus Crater. The excess emanating power of the Aristarchus region may be an indication of internal activity at that site. There are regions with anomalously high rates of Po-210 activity, which indicates transient phenomena involving the release of Rn-222 gas from certain areas of the moon.