Lunar remnant magnetic field mapping from orbital observations of mirrored electrons
A technique is described for mapping areas of lunar surface magnetism by observing ambient low-energy electrons from lunar orbit with a detector that is sectored to distinguish directions of arrival with respect to the ambient magnetic field and the lunar surface. It is noted that the ambient electrons provide a probe along the ambient magnetic-field lines down to the lunar surface for remote sensing of the presence of surface fields. Unlike direct magnetometer measurements, this probe does not require low altitude or a very stable ambient field in order to map the occurrence regions of such fields. Preliminary maps generated for the surface magnetic areas underlying the orbit of the Particles and Fields Satellite deployed from Apollo 16 are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique.