Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p43f..01h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P43F-01
Other
[5421] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interactions With Particles And Fields, [6015] Planetary Sciences: Comets And Small Bodies / Dust
Scientific paper
Dust plasma interactions on airless bodies in space affect both the exposed surfaces and the plasma flow around them. For example, charging, evaporation, and sputtering can shape the spatial and size distributions of small dust particles, and simultaneously alter the composition and energy distribution of the solar wind flow. Recent Ulysses observations of the temporal variability of the flux and direction of the interstellar dust flow show that the dynamics of submicron sized interplanetary and interstellar dust is determined by their charge and interactions with the large-scale structure of the heliospheric magnetic fields. Future observations by the Solar Probe Plus mission near the Sun are expected to identify pick-up ions from the evaporation and sputtering of dust and the effects of mass-loading on the solar wind. Charging of surfaces, combined with near-surface electric fields can lead to the mobilization and transport of small charged dust particles on all airless bodies in the solar system. Halley's comet showed large brightness fluctuations on very short time-scales at distances well beyond 8 AU. Surface charging due to intermittent high-speed solar wind streams have been suggested to be responsible for lofting small grains, increasing the effective surface area of the dormant nucleus. Images taken of the surface of asteroid Eros indicated the accumulation of fine dust in craters, possibly due to electrostatic dust transport. Remote sensing and in situ observations indicating dust transport on the Moon date back to the Apollo era and remain highly controversial. This presentation, motivated by existing observations, will describe a series of small-scale laboratory experiments and supporting theory to investigate dust charging, the properties of photoelectron sheaths, and the emergence of intense electric fields near boundaries of lit and dark surfaces, and regions shielded and exposed to the solar wind plasma flow. The Moon is the nearest place where dusty plasma effects could be investigated the easiest. The presentation will conclude with a summary of the science, measurement and instrument requirements for a Lunar Dust Transport Package (LDTP) to be placed on the lunar surface. LDTP will measure the time-dependent characteristics of the plasma sheath, and observe both the high-speed impacts of interplanetary and interstellar dust, and the putative fluxes of low-speed, highly charged lunar dust particles. LDTP will bring closure to decades-long open issues about dusty plasma effects on the lunar surface, and all other airless bodies in our solar system.
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