Inferring Water Content from Neutron Die-away Curves for Planetary Science Applications

Technical Report · Thu Sep 29 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1900448· OSTI ID:1900448

Chase, Eve Adde ^[1]; Grieve, Tristan Sumner ^[1]; Shin, Tony Heong Shick ^[1]; Nowicki, Suzanne Florence ^[1]; Pinilla-Orjuela, Maria Isabel ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Signatures of liquid water on planetary bodies may provide evidence for past, present, or future life elsewhere in the solar system. Multiple current and upcoming planetary science missions are prioritizing the search for water, using innovative technologies and creative algorithms. For this project, we explore the capabilities of an instrument similar to the Dragonfly spacecraft to map water content on the surface of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. We simulate Dragonfly’s neutron observations for a variety of soil compositions and develop multiple techniques to extract water content from the resultant neutron data. Additionally, we supplement neutron observations with gamma spectroscopy in an attempt to further refine water content estimates. This work is part of a larger study to employ Gaussian process regression to estimate a map of water content along the surface of Titan. Using the estimated map, an algorithm based on prediction difference mapping is employed to optimally move multiple Dragonfly detectors around the surface of Titan, fully autonomously.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• DOE Contract Number: 89233218CNA000001
• OSTI ID: 1900448
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-22-30051
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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