Recent studies have shown that dust grains can be transported in the laboratory experiments due to charging within micro-cavities between the particles. Therefore, electrostatic forces acting on the dust grains can be described as the repulsive Coulomb force between charged grains and the force resulting from the surface electric field due to the plasma sheath above the surface. In this study, we investigate different ambient plasma conditions to understand how the lunar dust particles are mobilized under the variation of surface potential, dust potential, electric field and the plasma sheath above the lunar terminator. In addition, electrostatic forces are compared to the gravity force and the contact forces for the micron and submicron sized dust particles, and it has been seen that the repulsive force between the charged dust grains can be stronger than the other forces. Finally, the current level of the experimental work is presented, which is prior to investigation of the impact modification on the electrostatic lofting of the silica dust grains in the vacuum chamber.
内容記述
形態: カラー図版あり
内容記述（英）
Physical characteristics: Original contains color illustrations
Investigation of Electrostatic Transportation of Lunar Dust Grains due to Ambient Plasma Conditions
AA1730013008.pdf
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