The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument is an experiment mounted on the Mars Science Laboratory'sCuriosity rover. It is a pulsed sealed-tube neutron source and detector used to measure hydrogen or ice and water at or near the Martian surface.[1][2] 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,[1][2] funded by Russia[3] and is under the leadership of Principal Investigator Igor Mitrofanov.[4]
History
On August 18, 2012 (sol 12), DAN was turned on,[5] marking the success of a Russian-American collaboration on the surface of Mars and the first working Russian science instrument on the Martian surface since Mars 3 stopped transmitting over forty years ago.[6] The instrument is designed to detect subsurface water.[5]
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 ions in rocks within three feet beneath the rover, according to the scientists.[9]