TheSolar Wind Composition Experiment (SWC) was an experiment deployed on theMoon during theApollo program (Apollo 11,12,14,15 and16). The aim was to measure and sample thesolar wind outside the Earth'smagnetosphere. It was the first definitive isotopic measurements of solar material.[2]
The SWC was proposed and designed by a Swiss team headed byJohannes Geiss and Peter Eberhardt of theUniversity of Bern and Peter Signer of theSwiss Institute of Technology.[1] It was manufactured by theSwiss National Science Foundation and the University of Bern. The experiment was partially funded by the Swiss Government.
The SWC experiment consisted of a 1 ft × 4.6 ft (0.30 m × 1.40 m) sheet of ultra-purealuminum foils (also withplatinum metal segments on the last Apollo 16 experiment) erected on the Moon's surface with a telescopic pole. The sheet was to be exposed to theSun as to measure theion types and energies of the solar wind on the lunar surface. The time exposure was 77 minutes on Apollo 11, 18 hours and 42 minutes on Apollo 12, 21 hours on Apollo 14, 41 hours and 8 minutes on Apollo 15, and 45 hours and 5 minutes on Apollo 16. At the end of the exposure the foil was detached from the telescopic pole, placed in aTeflon bag, and brought back to Earth for analysis. The experiment was successful and provided accurateHe,Ne andAr isotopic compositions of the solar wind.[2]
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