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SEVERAL DECADES OF LUNAR SAMPLE ANALYSIS AND REMOTE SENSING STUDIES HAVE ESTABLISHED THAT THE MOON ONCE POSSESSED A DYNAMO EXISTING FROM ~4.25 GA TO PERHAPS AS RECENTLY AS ~2.0 GA. TO DATE THERE HAS BEEN NO ANALYSIS OF HOW THIS DYNAMO FIELD WOULD HAVE INTERACTED WITH THE EARLY SOLAR WIND. ON GANYMEDE AND MERCURY DYNAMO FIELDS BLOCK INCIDENT PLASMA ACCESS TO PARTS OF THE SURFACE UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS. SIMILARLY THERE MUST HAVE ONCE BEEN SIGNIFICANT BLOCKING OF SOLAR WIND ACCESS TO THE LUNAR SURFACE GIVEN THAT LUNAR SURFACE FIELDS WERE POSSIBLY TEN TIMES HIGHER. HOWEVER UNLIKE GANYMEDE AND MERCURY THE HISTORY OF THIS INTERACTION CAN BE UNIQUELY ASSESSED THROUGH THE GEOCHEMISTRY AND PALEOMAGNETISM OF SAMPLES RETURNED DURING THE APOLLO PROGRAM. HERE WE PLAN TO USE HYBRID PLASMA SIMULATIONS AND PARTICLE TRACING ROUTINES TO STUDY FOUR DIFFERENT PROCESSES THAT WERE INFLUENCED BY THE MOON'S "PALEOMAGNETOSPHERE": 1) THE BLOCKING OR MASS FRACTIONATION OF SOLAR WIND SPECIES IMPLANTED INTO ANCIENT LUNAR SOILS WHICH COULD EXPLAIN LONG TERM CHANGES IN CERTAIN NOBLE GAS RATIOS 2) THE IMPLANTATION OF 40-AR AND 36-AR IONS WHICH ARE USED AS AN "ANTIQUITY INDICATOR" FOR ANCIENT LUNAR SOILS 3) THE ACCUMULATION AND WEATHERING OF VOLATILE SPECIES IN POLAR REGIONS AND 4) THE AMPLIFICATION AND DISTORTION OF THE NEAR-SURFACE DYNAMO FIELD DUE TO MORE FREQUENT EARLY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS FROM THE YOUNG SUN WHICH COULD EXPLAIN HIGH PALEOINTENSITIES IN MAGNETIZED APOLLO SAMPLES AND SCATTERED MAGNETIZATION DIRECTIONS IN CRUSTAL MAGNETIC ANOMALIES. TOGETHER THESE RESULTS WILL ALSO INFORM SIMILAR PROCESSES OPERATING ON MERCURY GANYMEDE AND POSSIBLY THE ASTEROID 16 PSYCHE.

$432,118FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA

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