Lunar Dust

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Zakharov
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Lunar Regolith ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Lunar Dust ◽  
Research Programs ◽  
The Impact

The surface of the Moon, as well as the surface of an airless body of the solar system, is subject to constant bombardment of micrometeorites, the effects of solar radiation, solar wind, and other space factors. As a result of the impact of high-speed micrometeorites for billions of years, the silicate base of the lunar surface is crushed, turning into particles with an approximately power-law-sized distribution. Given the explosive nature of the occurrence, these particles are characterized by an extremely irregular shape with pointed edges, either droplets close to spheres or conglomerates sintered at high temperatures. The plasma of the solar wind and the solar radiation, especially its ultraviolet part of the spectrum, when interacting with the upper layer of regolith causes a charge of the regolith upper layer and creates a near-surface double layer and an electric field. In this field, regolith particles of micron and submicron sizes can break away from the surface and levitate above the surface. Such dynamic processes lead to the transfer of dust particles over the surface of the Moon, as well as to the scattering of sunlight on these particles. Glows above the lunar surface of this nature were observed by television systems of American and Soviet landers in the early stages of lunar exploration. The American astronauts who landed on the lunar surface during the Apollo program experienced the aggressive properties of lunar dust. The results of the Apollo missions showed that dust particles are one of the main causes of danger to humans, spacecraft systems, and activities on the lunar surface. Based on the results of late 20th- and early 21st-century lunar research, as well as the proposed models, the article discusses the formation of the lunar regolith and the near-surface exosphere of the Moon under the influence of external factors in outer space. Relevant considerations include the causes and conditions of dust particle dynamics, the consequences of these processes as well as possible threats to humans, engineering systems during the implementation of planned research programs, and the exploration of the Moon. Also of relevance are models of the formation of a plasma-dust exosphere, the dynamics of dust particles in the near-surface region, and dust clouds at a distance of several tens of kilometers from the Moon’s surface, based on the available experimental data. The main unresolved problems associated with the dynamics of the dust component of lunar regolith are given, and methods for solving problematic issues are discussed. The Moon research programs of leading space agencies and their role in the study of Moon dust, its dynamics, human impact, and its activities in the implementation of promising programs for the study and exploration of the Moon are examined.

Future lunar missions and investigation of dusty plasma processes on the Moon

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
SERGEY I. POPEL ◽  
LEV M. ZELENYI
Keyword(s):  
Dusty Plasma ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Charged Dust ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Plasma System ◽  
Lunar Dust ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dusty Plasma System

AbstractFrom the Apollo era of exploration, it was discovered that sunlight was scattered at the terminators giving rise to “horizon glow” and “streamers” above the lunar surface. Subsequent investigations have shown that the sunlight was most likely scattered by electrostatically charged dust grains originating from the surface. A renaissance is being observed currently in investigations of the Moon. The Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource missions (the latter jointly with India) are being prepared in Russia. Some of these missions will include investigations of lunar dust. Here we discuss the future experimental investigations of lunar dust within the missions of Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource. We consider the dusty plasma system over the lunar surface and determine the maximum height of dust rise. We describe mechanisms of formation of the dusty plasma system over the Moon and its main properties, determine distributions of electrons and dust over the lunar surface, and show a possibility of rising dust particles over the surface of the illuminated part of the Moon in the entire range of lunar latitudes. Finally, we discuss the effect of condensation of micrometeoriod substance during the expansion of the impact plume and show that this effect is important from the viewpoint of explanation of dust particle rise to high altitudes in addition to the dusty plasma effects.

scholarly journals Пылевые звуковые солитоны в плазме запыленной экзосферы Луны

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (9) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
С.И. Копнин ◽  
С.И. Попель
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Soliton Solutions ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Charged Dust ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Electrons And Ions ◽  
Dust Acoustic

This paper shows a possibility of the existence and propagation of dust acoustic solitons in plasmas of dusty exosphere of the Moon, which contains, in addition to electrons and ions of the solar wind and photoelectrons from the lunar surface, also charged dust particles, as well as photoelectrons emitted from the surfaces of these particles. Soliton solutions are found and the ranges of possible velocities and amplitudes of such solitons are determined depending on the height above the lunar surface for different subsolar angles.

LUMIO: a CubeSat to monitor the lunar farside

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianmario Merisio ◽  
Vittorio Franzese ◽  
Carmine Giordano ◽  
Mauro Massari ◽  
Pierluigi Di Lizia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Visible Spectrum ◽  
Parent Body ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Impact Flux ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future

<p>Vast amounts of meteoroids and micrometeoroids continuously enter the Earth–Moon system and consequently become a potential threat. Lunar meteoroid impacts have caused a substantial change in the lunar surface and its properties. The Moon having no atmospheric blanket to protect itself, it is subjected to impacts from meteoroids ranging from a few kilograms to 10’s of grams each day. The high impact rate on the lunar surface has important implications for future human and robotic assets that will inhabit the Moon for significant periods of time. Therefore, a greater understanding of the meteoroid population in the cislunar environment is required for future exploration of the Moon.</p> <p>Moreover, refining current meteoroid models is of paramount importance for many applications. For instance, since meteoroids may travel dispersed along the orbit of their parent body, understanding meteoroids and associated phenomena can be valuable for the study of asteroids and comets themselves. Studying meteoroid impacts can help deepening the understanding of the spatial distribution of near-Earth objects in the Solar system. The study of dust particles can be also of interest because, together with the solar wind, they determine the space weather. Finally, it is critical to be able to predict impacts by relying on accurate impact flux models. That because the impact of small asteroids with Earth, even slightly larger than meteoroids, can cause severe damage.</p> <p>In this context, the Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer (LUMIO) is a CubeSat mission to observe, quantify, and characterise the meteoroid impacts by detecting their flashes on the lunar far-side. This complements the knowledge gathered by Earth-based observations of the lunar nearside, thus synthesising a global information on the lunar meteoroid environment. LUMIO envisages a 12U CubeSat form-factor placed in a halo orbit at Earth-Moon L2. The mission employs the LUMIO-Cam, an optical instrument capable of detecting light flashes in the visible spectrum. LUMIO is one of the two winner of ESA’s LUCE (Lunar CubeSat for Exploration) SysNova competition, and as such it is being considered by ESA for implementation in the near future. The Phase A study has been conducted in 2020 under ESA's General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) and successfully completed at the beginning of 2021, after an independent mission assessment performed by ESA’s CDF team.</p> <p>In this work, the latest results of the Phase A study of the LUMIO lunar CubeSat will be shown. An overview of the present-day LUMIO CubeSat A design will be given, with a focus on the latest developments. An overview on how LUMIO will impact the currently existing knowledge of meteoroid models will be given supported by high-fidelity simulated data.</p>

scholarly journals Rock Location and Property Analysis of Lunar Regolith at Chang’E-4 Landing Site Based on Local Correlation and Semblance Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Hanjie Song ◽  
Chao Li ◽  
Jinhai Zhang ◽  
Xing Wu ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electromagnetic Waves ◽  
Lunar Regolith ◽  
Landing Site ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Local Correlation ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Property Analysis ◽  
Stratigraphic Division ◽  
Formation And Evolution

The Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) onboard the Yutu-2 rover from China’s Chang’E-4 (CE-4) mission is used to probe the subsurface structure and the near-surface stratigraphic structure of the lunar regolith on the farside of the Moon. Structural analysis of regolith could provide abundant information on the formation and evolution of the Moon, in which the rock location and property analysis are the key procedures during the interpretation of LPR data. The subsurface velocity of electromagnetic waves is a vital parameter for stratigraphic division, rock location estimates, and calculating the rock properties in the interpretation of LPR data. In this paper, we propose a procedure that combines the regolith rock extraction technique based on local correlation between the two sets of LPR high-frequency channel data and the common offset semblance analysis to determine the velocity from LPR diffraction hyperbola. We consider the heterogeneity of the regolith and derive the relative permittivity distribution based on the rock extraction and semblance analysis. The numerical simulation results show that the procedure is able to obtain the high-precision position and properties of the rock. Furthermore, we apply this procedure to CE-4 LPR data and obtain preferable estimations of the rock locations and the properties of the lunar subsurface regolith.

scholarly journals Ultraviolet Albedo of Comet West (1976 VI)

1980 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 263-266
Author(s):  
P. D. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Solar Spectrum ◽  
Ultraviolet Spectrum ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Lunar Dust ◽  
Cometary Dust ◽  
A Value ◽  
Dust Coma ◽  
Spectrometer Slit ◽  
The Continuum

The ultraviolet spectrum of Comet West (1976 VI) in the range 1200-3200 Å was recorded by rocket-borne instruments on March 5.5, 1976. At the time of launch, r = 0.385, Δ = 0.84 and the phase angle was 78°. Longward of 2100 Å the continuum of solar radiation scattered by cometary dust is detected and is found to closely follow the solar spectrum. Since the dust coma is completely included in the spectrometer slit, the ultraviolet albedo can be determined relative to the visible and this ratio is found to be ≈0.3 at 2700 Å. There is evidence for a further decrease in albedo near 2200 Å. Using a visible albedo of 0.2 gives a value of 0.06 for the cometary albedo at 2700 Å, a value similar to that found for the moon and lunar dust in this spectral region.

Anomalous Dielectric Variability in the central peak of Tycho crater on the Moon: New insights from Mini-RF S-band Observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shashwat Shukla ◽  
Gerald Wesley Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Dielectric Constant ◽  
Hyperspectral Image ◽  
Central Peak ◽  
Skin Depth ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Low Dielectric ◽  
Crater Morphology ◽  
High Dielectric ◽  
The Impact

<p>One of the unique candidates to explore the evolution of physical surface processes on the Moon is Tycho, a dark haloed impact crater representing well-preserved bright ray pattern and intact crater morphology. Sampling of the central peak in such complex crater formation proves significant in terms of unraveling intriguing science of the lunar interior. With the current state-of-the-art radar technology, it is possible to evaluate the response of the geologic features constrained in the near surface and subsurface regolith environments. This can be achieved by modelling the dielectric constant of media, which is a physical parameter crucial for furthering our knowledge about the distribution of materials within different stratigraphic layers at multiple depths. Here, we used the applicability of Mini-RF S-band data augmented with a deep learning based inversion model to retrieve the dielectric variations over the central peak of the Tycho crater. A striking observation is made in certain regions of the central peak, wherein we observe anomalously high dielectric constant, not at all differentiated in the hyperspectral image and first Stokes parameter image, which usually is a representation of retrieved backscatter of the target. The results are also supported by comparing the variations in the scattering mechanisms. We found those particular regions to be associated with high degree of depolarization, thereby attributing to the presence of cm- to m- scale scatterers buried within a low dielectric layer that are not big enough to produce even-bounce geometry for the radar wave. Moreover, we also observe high rock concentration in the central peak slopes from DIVINER data and NAC images, indicating the exposure of clasts ranging in size from 10 meter to 100s of meter. Furthermore, from surface temperature data, these distinctive outcrops sense warmer temperature at night than the surrounding, which suggests the existence of thermal skin depth in such vicinities. Interestingly, we are able to quantify the pessimistic dielectric constant limit of the large boulder in the middle of the central peak, observable at the Mini-RF radar wavelength, as 4.54 + j0.077. Compared to the expected dielectric constant of rocks, this value is lowered significantly. One probable reason could be the emergence of small radar shadows due to the rugged surface of the boulder on the radar illuminated portion. From our analysis, we showcase the anomalous dielectric variability of Tycho central peak, thereby providing new insights into the evolution of the impact cratering process that could be important for both science and necessary for framing human or robotic exploration strategies.  </p>

scholarly journals 2.2.4 Lunar Soil Movement Registered by the Apollo 17 Cosmic Dust Experiment

1976 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 233-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otto E. Berg ◽  
Henry Wolf ◽  
John Rhee
Keyword(s):  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Lunar Soil ◽  
Cosmic Dust ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Normal Impact ◽  
Soil Movement ◽  
Impact Parameters

In December, 1973, a Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites (LEAM) experiment was placed in the Taurus-Littrow area of the moon by the Apollo 17 Astronauts. Objectives of the experiment were centered around measurements of impact parameters of cosmic dust on the lunar surface. During preliminary attempts to analyze the data it became evident that the events registered by the sensors could not be attributed to cosmic dust but could only be identified with the lunar surface and the local sun angle. The nature of these data coupled with post-flight studies of instrument characteristics, have led to a conclusion that the LEAM experiment is responding primarily to a flux of highly charged, slowly moving lunar surface fines. Undoubtedly concealed in these data is the normal impact activity from cosmic dust and probably lunar ejecta, as well. This paper is based on the recognition that the bulk of events registered by the LEAM experiment are not signatures of hypervelocity cosmic dust particles, as expected, but are induced signatures of electrostatically charged and transported lunar fines.

scholarly journals 2.2.5 Electrostatic Disruption of Lunar Dust Particles

1976 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 238-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Rhee
Keyword(s):  
Surface Potential ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Lunar Dust ◽  
Electrostatic Charging

An investigation has been made to study a possibility that dust particles might catastrophically explode on the lunar surface due to electrostatic charging. It is shown that for the dark side along the terminator zone, dust balls and compact stony particles of micron and submicron sizes will be blown up if their surface potential is as low as a kilovolt negative. This mechanism will not operate on the sunlit side because the potential is only 3.5 ~ 20 volts positive. Some of these fragments may possibly levitate in the vicinity of the terminator.

scholarly journals Investigating the Retention of Solar Wind Implanted Helium-3 on the Moon from the Analysis of Multi-Wavelength Remote Sensing Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 3350
Author(s):  
Shashwat Shukla ◽  
Valentyn Tolpekin ◽  
Shashi Kumar ◽  
Alfred Stein
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Physical Nature ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Energy Demands ◽  
Multi Wavelength ◽  
High Dielectric ◽  
Weathering Effects

The Moon has a large potential for space exploration and mining valuable resources. In particular, 3He provides rich sources of non-radioactive fusion fuel to fulfill cislunar and Earth’s energy demands, if found economically feasible. The present study focuses on developing advanced techniques to prospect 3He resources on the Moon from multi-sensor remote sensing perspectives. It characterizes optical changes in regolith materials due to space weathering as a new retention parameter and introduces a novel machine learning inversion model for retrieving the physical properties of the regolith. Our analysis suggests that the reddening of the soil predominantly governs the retention, along with attenuated mafic band depths. Moreover, semi-variograms show that the spatial variability of 3He is aligned with the episodic weathering events at different timescales. We also observed that pyroclastic regoliths with high dielectric constant and increased surface scattering mechanisms exhibited a 3He abundant region. For ejecta cover, the retention was weakly associated with the dielectric contrast and a circular polarization ratio (CPR), mainly because of the 3He-deficient nature of the regolith. Furthermore, cross-variograms revealed inherent cyclicity attributed to the sequential process of weathering effects. Our study provides new insights into the physical nature and near-surface alterations of lunar regoliths that influence the spatial distribution and retention of solar wind implanted 3He.

scholarly journals Untangling the formation and liberation of water in the lunar regolith

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (23) ◽  
pp. 11165-11170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Zhu ◽  
Parker B. Crandall ◽  
Jeffrey J. Gillis-Davis ◽  
Hope A. Ishii ◽  
John P. Bradley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Wind ◽  
Hydroxyl Radicals ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Lunar Regolith ◽  
Laboratory Simulation ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Simulation Experiments ◽  
Proton Implantation

The source of water (H2O) and hydroxyl radicals (OH), identified on the lunar surface, represents a fundamental, unsolved puzzle. The interaction of solar-wind protons with silicates and oxides has been proposed as a key mechanism, but laboratory experiments yield conflicting results that suggest that proton implantation alone is insufficient to generate and liberate water. Here, we demonstrate in laboratory simulation experiments combined with imaging studies that water can be efficiently generated and released through rapid energetic heating like micrometeorite impacts into anhydrous silicates implanted with solar-wind protons. These synergistic effects of solar-wind protons and micrometeorites liberate water at mineral temperatures from 10 to 300 K via vesicles, thus providing evidence of a key mechanism to synthesize water in silicates and advancing our understanding on the origin of water as detected on the Moon and other airless bodies in our solar system such as Mercury and asteroids.

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