Experimental Investigation of Dust Lift-off and Transport on Surfaces in Plasma

Details Experimental Investigation of Dust Lift-off and Transport on Surfaces in Plasma Experimental Investigation of Dust Lift-off and Transport on Surfaces in Plasma

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p31b1413w&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P31B-1413

Physics

2129 Interplanetary Dust, 2164 Solar Wind Plasma, 2194 Instruments And Techniques, 6213 Dust, 6250 Moon (1221)

Scientific paper

There is ample evidence from the Surveyor images and from in situ dust detection by the Lunar Ejecta and Meteorite (LEAM) experiment (deployed during the Apollo 17 mission) for significant dust lift-off and subsequent dust transport on the lunar surface. These near surface observations have been suggested to be directly connected to the dusty lunar exosphere that was indicated by Apollo astronaut sketches and the photometry of images taken from orbit. These observations remained largely controversial mainly due to the lack of our understanding of the physical processes responsible for dust mobilization. We have conducted a series of laboratory experiments to investigate the physics of dusty surfaces in a low-density plasma to investigate the possible mechanisms that can lead to dust lift-off and mobilization on the Moon. We report on dust transport experiments on a conducting plate. We found that when the plate is biased sufficiently negative, an initially small patch of grains spreads into a larger ring with a void at the center. Dust grains can spread over thick insulating plates, indicating that a 'hopping' mechanism is involved. The measured charge of individual grains, and the mapped potential distribution over the spreading patch are consistent with observed dust transport.

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