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The Lunar Dust-Plasma Environment Is Crucial

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The Lunar Dust-Plasma Environment Is Crucial TheThe LunarLunar DustDust --PlasmaPlasma EnvironmentEnvironment Timothy J. Stubbs 1,2 , William M. Farrell 2, Jasper S. Halekas 3, Michael R. Collier 2, Richard R. Vondrak 2, & Gregory T. Delory 3 [email protected] Lunar X-ray Observatory(LXO)/ Magnetosheath Explorer (MagEX) meeting, Hilton Garden Inn, October 25, 2007. 1 University of Maryland, Baltimore County 2 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 3 University of California, Berkeley TheThe ApolloApollo AstronautAstronaut ExperienceExperience ofof thethe LunarLunar DustDust --PlasmaPlasma EnvironmentEnvironment “… one of the most aggravating, restricting facets of lunar surface exploration is the dust and its adherence to everything no matter what kind of material, whether it be skin, suit material, metal, no matter what it be and it’s restrictive friction-like action to everything it gets on. ” Eugene Cernan, Commander Apollo 17. EvidenceEvidence forfor DustDust AboveAbove thethe LunarLunar SurfaceSurface Horizon glow from forward scattered sunlight • Dust grains with radius of 5 – 6 m at about 10 to 30 cm from the surface, where electrostatic and gravitational forces balance. • Horizon glow ~10 7 too bright to be explained by micro-meteoroid- generated ejecta [Zook et al., 1995]. Composite image of morning and evening of local western horizon [Criswell, 1973]. DustDust ObservedObserved atat HighHigh AltitudesAltitudes fromfrom OrbitOrbit Schematic of situation consistent with Apollo 17 observations [McCoy, 1976]. Lunar dust at high altitudes (up to ~100 km). 0.1 m-scale dust present Gene Cernan sketches sporadically (~minutes). [McCoy and Criswell, 1974]. InIn --SituSitu EvidenceEvidence forfor DustDust TransportTransport Terminators Berg et al. [1976] Apollo 17 Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites (LEAM) experiment. PossiblePossible DustyDusty HorizonHorizon GlowGlow seenseen byby ClementineClementine StarStar Tracker?Tracker? Above: image of possible horizon glow above the lunar surface. The bright crescent Earth partially visible at bottom. Right: the dark Moon bathed in earth- shine, with a glow above the lunar limb. Venus at top appears larger due to CCD saturation. HowHow comecome thethe RetroreflectorsRetroreflectors areare stillstill working?working? Retroreflectors, or corner-cube prisms, return any incident light back to where it came from. By measuring the time taken for laser pulses to travel from a telescope on the Earth to a retroreflector on the Moon and back again, it is possible to determine the distance between them, and test “Einstein’s Apollo 11 experiment. Equivalence Principle”. Laser Ranging Retroreflector (LR 3) experiments were deployed on the Moon by Apollo 11, 14 & 15. Retroreflectors also on Lunokhod 1 & 2. APOLLO – Tom Murphy (UCSD) et al. – designed to get much better counting statistics and accuracy than earlier experiments, which typically achieved <<1 return photons per pulse. Return rate predicted to be ≈7±3 photons per pulse. They only get ≈0.5 photons per pulse! IT GOT DUSTY? WhatWhat aboutabout thethe SurveyorSurveyor 33 partsparts fromfrom ApolloApollo 12?12? Pete Conrad (Cmdr The TV mirror was Apollo 12) collecting parts protected from this from Surveyor 3. sandblasting. Dust, a few microns and less Areas of Surveyor 3 in diameter, adhering to the facing Apollo 12 as it “… areas stripped and TV mirror. landed nearby were rubbed free of Mechanism …? effectively “sandblasted” contaminating dust.” by dust kicked up by its thrusters. IT GOT DUSTY! Images: Mandeville and Lem [1972] TheThe LunarLunar DustDust --PlasmaPlasma EnvironmentEnvironment RecentRecent Progress:Progress: LunarLunar ProspectorProspector Lunar Prospector Electron Reflectometry Objective of LP/ER was to map the lunar magnetic anomalies. However, adiabatically reflected electrons give information about both ER magnetic and electric MAG fields at the lunar surface. ER : Electron Reflectometer measured See Lin et al., Science, [1998] for 3D distributions (~10 eV – 20 keV). more details about this experiment. MAG : Magnetometer. LunarLunar SurfaceSurface ChargingCharging inin thethe SolarSolar WindWind LUNAR WAKE Lunar Prospector Lunar Electron Observations Electron ~ +4 V ~ −200 V ~ −40 V ~ −4 V m–1 Predictions Surface Charging Charging Surface Stubbs et al. [2007a] MoonMoon inin thethe MagnetosphereMagnetosphere Stubbs et al. [2007c] LunarLunar SurfaceSurface ChargingCharging inin thethe EarthEarth ’’ss MagnetosphericMagnetospheric PlasmaPlasma SheetSheet The plasma sheet is hotter and more tenuous than the solar wind ~ +10 V ~ −600 V ~ +12 V m–1 ~ −1 V m–1 DirectDirect ObservationsObservations ofof ExtremeExtreme SurfaceSurface ChargingCharging 4 keV beam of secondary electrons accelerated upward by negative surface potential. Energy-dependent loss cone indicative of repulsive surface potential. • High energy electrons hit the surface and are lost • Low energy electrons are reflected by the potential. Halekas et al. [2006] Surface potentials of up to several kilovolts (negative) found: • In the terrestrial plasma sheet (high plasma temperature), • In the solar wind during Solar Energetic Particle events. DustDust TransportTransport RegimesRegimes Lofting: ZMAX >> D Dust accelerated rapidly away from the surface and follows ballistic φ trajectories. Negligible grain charging in the photoelectron ( S > 0) or φ plasma ( S < 0) sheaths [Stubbs et al., 2006; 2007b] Levitation: ZMAX ~ D φ Occurs above a photoelectron sheath ( S > 0), where dust grains can both maintain a positive charge and be in a location where Fq ≈ φ Fg, e.g. Colwell et al. [2005]. Could also occur for S < 0 if dust grains remain within the lunar shadow [Sickafoose et al. 2001]. Limited: ZMAX < D φ In a photoelectron sheath ( S > 0), the relatively slow moving positively charged grains leaving the surface are charged negative by the electrons in the sheath. Therefore, they are attracted back toward the φ surface [Colwell et al., 2005]. Again, could occur for S < 0. DynamicDynamic DustDust ““FountainFountain ”” ModelModel Stubbs et al. [2006] PredictionsPredictions ofof DustDust DynamicDynamic FountainFountain ModelModel Lofted dust Levitating dust Stubbs et al., 2007b MurphyMurphy andand VondrakVondrak [1993][1993] ModelModel DistributionDistribution atat thethe TerminatorTerminator LRO orbit Model “0” 9 −2 ρcolumn ≈ 1.4 × 10 m (Lunokhod calibration) Scattering in Visible, Ultraviolet and Infrared (+ Thermal Emission) PredictedPredicted SkySky BrightnessBrightness inin thethe VisibleVisible Murphy and Vondrak, unpublished UV and IR predicted to be less bright. Significant IR thermal emissions predicted. Comparative Planetology Particulates in Solid-Body Exospheres Earth Mars Moon • Mostly gas, particulates • Mostly gas, but larger • “Dusty” Exosphere – small fraction of mass. fraction of particulates. particulates dominant mass component? • Particles: Aerosols, • Particles: Dust dust and ice. aerodynamically lifted • Particles: Dust from surface. electrostatically lifted • Active surface- from surface (>100 km). atmosphere interface. • Active surface- atmosphere interface. • Active surface- • Many ice-laden exosphere interface. thunderstorms driven by • Dust storms can trigger local temperature a global meteorological • Dust accelerated up to inversions. instability. 1 km/s at terminator. AnthropogenicAnthropogenic DustDust - In addition to “natural” transport, dust will get kicked-up by astronauts. - Astronauts and equipment moving around on the lunar surface will create & exchange charge via contact electrification – V triboelectricity. - In an “equivalent circuit”, the astronaut can be treated as a “capacitor” which charges as it moves across the lunar surface. The Human Capacitor - Input voltages to this capacitor include triboelectric, photoelectric & plasma The astronaut is electrically currents, & induction in high E-field regions. connected to the lunar dust- - These processes will result in the charged plasma environment via dust being attracted toward, and adhering the voltage sources of the to, the charged astronaut. Capacitor-Electrical System - The attached dust will subsequently be carried into the habitat. DustDust FromFrom thethe SurfaceSurface toto thethe Habitat:Habitat: WhatWhat isis thethe ““SelectionSelection ”” Process?Process? Surface Dust Distribution Dust coated EVA suit Dust in the Habitat Probability of dust getting from the Probability of dust getting from suit/ surface to the EVA suit depends on: equipment into the habitat depends on: - Grain size, charge & “perturbation” - Grain-suit adhesion - Surface/astronaut electric potential - Effectiveness of mitigation efforts In turn, this depends on: In turn, this depends on: - Grain size distribution & composition - Grain shape, composition & charge - Ambient plasma, illumination & - EVA suit material. thermal conditions - Airlock design SomeSome FutureFuture NecessaryNecessary inin --situsitu MeasurementsMeasurements Measurement Instrumentation Exospheric dust Photometer (passive) concentrations LIDAR (active) Surface electric potentials E-fields instrument with boom (and maybe magnetometer) Dust strikes Impact sensor (dust mass, velocity and (more sensitive and charge distributions) discriminating than LEAM). Plasma characteristics Electron spectrometers Ion spectrometers Measurements required on the surface (local) and from orbit (global), preferably at the same time. LLunarunar EEmissions,missions, EElectrons,lectrons, andand DDustust (LEED)(LEED) SurfaceSurface InstrumentInstrument Objectives: - Identify the processes that
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