The Lunar Plasma and Dust Environment

Details The Lunar Plasma and Dust Environment The Lunar Plasma and Dust Environment

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p51d..01s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P51D-01

Physics

6015 Dust, 6250 Moon (1221), 7849 Plasma Interactions With Dust And Aerosols (2461)

Scientific paper

The lunar surface is exposed to a variety of plasma conditions as a function of local time, solar activity, and orbital position. The wind, UV radiation, magnetospheric plasmas, and meteoroid impacts result in a complex, time-dependent environment, which creates a natural dusty plasma laboratory. The charging, possible subsequent mobilization, and transport of fine lunar dust have remained controversial subjects, and have been suggested to lead to the formation of a 'dusty exosphere', extending tens to hundreds of kilometers above the surface. The outstanding questions include: What are the parameters and variability of the near- surface plasma environment? What is the charge and electric field distribution on and above the surface? What is the microphysics of electrostatic dust mobilization? What is the role of micrometeoroid bombardment? It is crucial for future human/robotic exploration and for science utilization of the Moon to answer these questions. The dusty plasma group at the University of Colorado has over a decade of experience in theoretical and experimental studies including dust charging experiments, laboratory simulation of electrostatic dust transport, dust levitation, and theoretical modeling. The experimental facility is now being updated to include a strong UV source to generate a photoelectron sheath above a surface of lunar regolith analog material. The near-surface plasma is characterized using plasma-, electric field- and emissive probes. Multiple populations of electrons in the lunar plasma (photoelectrons emitted from the surface, solar wind electrons, etc.) require the modification of existing probe data analysis methods. Also under development are advanced instruments to measure the characteristics of lofted dust particles. We present here a summary of recent results and planned experiments in our dusty plasma program. [Plasma probes for the lunar surface, X. Wang, M. Horanyi and S. Robertson, J. Geophys. Res., 113, A08108, doi:10.1029/2008JA013187, 2008; A laboratory model of the lunar surface potential near boundaries between sunlit and shadowed regions, X. Wang, M. Horányi, Z. Sternovsky, S. Robertson, and G. E. Morfill, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16104, doi:10.1029/2007GL030766, 2007; Variability of the lunar photoelectron sheath and dust mobility due to solar activity, Z. Sternovsky, P. Chamberlin, M. Horanyi, S. Robertson and X. Wang, , J. Geophys. Res. in print]

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