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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2013

SERGEY I. POPEL  and
LEV M. ZELENYI
SERGEY I. POPEL
Affiliation:
Institute for Dynamics of Geospheres of RAS, Moscow 119334, Russia ([email protected])
LEV M. ZELENYI
Affiliation:
Space Research Institute of RAS, Moscow 117997, Russia
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Abstract

From 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.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 79 , Special Issue 4: Advanced Plasma Concepts , August 2013 , pp. 405 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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