Apollo 14 Mission Science Experiments - Charged Particle Lunar
Environment Experiment The Charged Particle Lunar Environment
Experiment was deployed on Apollo 14. It measured electrons and
both positively and negatively charged ions near the Moon's
surface with energies between 50 and 50,000 electron volts. Less
energetic ions were studied by the Suprathermal Ion Detector
Experiment and more energetic particles were studied by the
Cosmic Ray Detector experiment. One interesting result of this
experiment is that it recorded the impact of the Apollo 14 lunar
module ascent stage, which was crashed onto the Moon after the
crew had returned to lunar orbit. The ascent stage impact
occurred at a distance of about 66 kilometers from the Apollo 14
landing site and there were about 180 kilograms of unused rocket
propellant on board. Two distinct clouds of material from this
impact were recorded by the Charged Particle Experiment. The two
clouds were about 14 and 7 kilometers across and had expanded
away from the impact