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The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument is an experiment mounted on the
NSSDC – Mars 3
/ref> The instrument is designed to detect subsurface water. On March 18, 2013 (sol ), NASA reported evidence of mineral hydration, likely hydrated
On August 19, 2015, NASA scientists reported that the DAN instrument on ''Curiosity'' detected an unusual hydrogen-rich area, at "Marias Pass," on Mars. The hydrogen found seemed related to water or 
Mars Science Laboratory
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on Augus ...
''Curiosity'' rover. It is a pulsed sealed-tube neutron source
A neutron source is any device that emits neutrons, irrespective of the mechanism used to produce the neutrons. Neutron sources are used in physics, engineering, medicine, nuclear weapons, petroleum exploration, biology, chemistry, and nuclear p ...
and detector used to measure hydrogen
Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...
or ice
Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
and water
Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
at or near the Martian surface. The instrument consists of the detector element (DE) and a 14.1 MeV pulsing neutron generator (PNG). The die-away time of neutrons is measured by the DE after each neutron pulse from the PNG.
DAN was provided by the Russian Federal Space Agency, funded by Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
and is under the leadership of Principal Investigator Igor Mitrofanov.
History
On August 18, 2012 (sol ), DAN was turned on, marking the success of a Russian-American collaboration on the surface of Mars and the first working Russian science instrument on the Martian surface sinceMars 3
Mars 3 was a robotic space probe of the Soviet Mars program, launched May 28, 1971, nine days after its twin spacecraft Mars 2. The probes were identical robotic spacecraft launched by Proton-K rockets with a Blok D upper stage, each consisti ...
stopped transmitting over forty years ago./ref> The instrument is designed to detect subsurface water. On March 18, 2013 (sol ), NASA reported evidence of mineral hydration, likely hydrated
calcium sulfate
Calcium sulfate (or calcium sulphate) is an inorganic salt with the chemical formula . It occurs in several hydrated forms; the anhydrous state (known as anhydrite) is a white crystalline solid often found in evaporite deposits. Its dihydrate ...
, in several rock samples including the broken fragments of "Tintina" rock and "Sutton Inlier" rock as well as in veins and nodules in other rocks like "Knorr" rock and "Wernicke" rock. Analysis using the rover's DAN instrument provided evidence of subsurface water, amounting to as much as 4% water content, down to a depth of , in the rover's traverse from the Bradbury Landing site to the Yellowknife Bay area in the Glenelg terrain.
On August 19, 2015, NASA scientists reported that the DAN instrument on ''Curiosity'' detected an unusual hydrogen-rich area, at "Marias Pass," on Mars. The hydrogen found seemed related to water or hydroxyl
In chemistry, a hydroxy or hydroxyl group is a functional group with the chemical formula and composed of one oxygen atom covalently bonded to one hydrogen atom. In organic chemistry, alcohols and carboxylic acids contain one or more hydroxy ...
ions in rocks within beneath the rover, according to the scientists.
See also
*Exploration of Mars
The planet Mars has been explored remotely by spacecraft. Uncrewed spacecraft, Probes sent from Earth, beginning in the late 20th century, have yielded a large increase in knowledge about the Martian system, focused primarily on understanding G ...
* Groundwater on Mars
*Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory
The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover, Curiosity rover, ''Curiosity'', were launched from Earth on 26 November 2011. As of , , ''Curiosity'' has been in Gale Crater on the Mars, planet Mars for Sol (day on Mars), sols ( days, total days; ...
*Water on Mars
Although very small amounts of liquid water may occur transiently on the surface of Mars, limited to traces of dissolved moisture from the atmosphere and thin films, large quantities of ice are present on and under the surface. Small amounts of ...
References
External links
* {{Portal bar, Solar System Mars Science Laboratory instruments Space program of Russia Space science experiments Spacecraft instruments