Cubesat Electrostatic Dust Analyzer (CEDA) for Measuring Regolith Dust Transport on Airless Bodies

The CubeSat Electrostatic Dust Analyzer (CEDA) is developed by the Dust BUSTER student team at the University of Colorado for exploring electrostatic dust transport processes on the surfaces of airless bodies such as asteroids and the Moon. CEDA is a 6U cubesat that consists of a 2U dust analyzer module and an autonomous repositioning system (ARS). This instrument measures the charge, velocity, and mass of lofted dust particles, and provides the lofting rate in order to estimate the efficiency of electrostatic dust transport in surface processes. The dust analyzer module consists of two Dust Trajectory Sensor (DTS) units with a Deflection Field Electrodes (DFE) unit in between them. A dust particle can enter from either end of the analyzer and its charge and velocity are measured using the wire-electrodes on which the charge is induced as the particle passes through. The charged particle is deflected in the DFE where its mass is determined from the deflection trajectory. The ARS, consisting of the sun sensors, cover doors and tilting mechanisms, repositions the instrument for optimized dust measurement on the surface. The communication needs to be provided by the mother spacecraft

Linking meteorites to their asteroid parent bodies: The capabilities of dust analyzer instruments during asteroid flybys

Linking meteorites to their asteroid parent bodies remains an outstanding issue. Space-based dust characterization using impact ionization mass spectrometry is a proven technique for the compositional analysis of individual cosmic dust grains. Here we investigate the feasibility of determining asteroid compositions via cation mass spectrometric analyses of their dust ejecta clouds during low (7–9 km s−1) velocity spacecraft flybys. At these speeds, the dust grain mass spectra are dominated by easily ionized elements and molecular species. Using known bulk mineral volume abundances, we show that it is feasible to discriminate the common meteorite classes of carbonaceous chondrites, ordinary chondrites, and howardite–eucrite–diogenite achondrites, as well as their subtypes, relying solely on the detection of elements with ionization efficiencies of ≤700 or ≤800 kJ mol−1, applicable to low (~7 km s−1) and intermediate (~9 km s−1) flyby speed scenarios, respectively. Including the detection of water ion groups enables greater discrimination between certain meteorite types, and flyby speeds ≥10 km s−1 enhance the diagnostic capabilities of this technique still further. Although additional terrestrial calibration is required, this technique may allow more unequivocal asteroid-meteorite connections to be determined by spacecraft flybys, emphasizing the utility of dust instruments on future asteroid missions

On the Mechanism of Energy Transfer in the Plasma-Propellant Interaction

A coupled plasma sheath/ablation model is developed for electrothermal chemical gun applications. By combining a commonly employed collisional sheath model with a previous ablation model, the convective heat flux as a function of time to the propellant bed is determined for two potential electrothermal chemical gun propellants, XM39 and JA2. It is found that the convective heat flux varies smoothly from a nearly collisionless to a fully collisional regime over the short duration of the plasma pulse. The possibility of determining an accurate estimate of the amount of heat flux to the propellant bed due to radiation from the bulk plasma presents itself.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57361/1/385_ftp.pd

Using Dust from Asteroids as Regolith Microsamples

More robust links need to be forged between meteorites and their parent bodies to understand the composition, diversity and distribution of the asteroids. A major link can be sample analysis of the parent body material and comparison with meteorite data. Dust is present around all airless bodies, generated by micrometeorite impact into their airless surfaces, which in turn lofts regolith particles into a "cloud" around the body. The composition, flux, and size distribution of dust particles can provide insight into the geologic evolution of airless bodies. For example, the Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyzer detected salts and minerals emitted by plumes at Enceladus, evidence for a subsurface ocean with a silicate seafloor. Dust analysis instruments may enable future missions to obtain elemental, isotopic and mineralogical composition of regolith particles without returning the samples to terrestrial laboratories

Impact ionization mass spectra of anorthite cosmic dust analogue particles

Anorthite, the Ca-rich end-member of plagioclase feldspar, is a dominant mineral component of the Lunar highlands. Plagioclase feldspar is also found in comets, meteorites and stony asteroids. It is therefore expected to contribute to the population of interplanetary (and circumplanetary) dust grains within the solar system. After coating micron- and submicron-sized grains of Anorthite with a conductive layer of Platinum, the mineral was successfully accelerated to hypervelocity speeds in the Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik’s Van de Graaff accelerator. We present impact ionization mass spectra generated following the impacts of anorthite grains with a prototype mass spectrometer (the Large Area Mass Analyser, LAMA) designed for use in space, and discuss the behavior of the spectra with increasing impact energy. Correlation analysis is used to identify the compositions and sources of cations present in the spectra, enabling the identification of several molecular cations (e.g., CaAlO2, CaSiO2, Ca2AlO3/CaAlSi2O2) which identify anorthite as the progenitor bulk grain material

Scientific Preparations for Lunar Exploration with the European Lunar Lander

This paper discusses the scientific objectives for the ESA Lunar Lander Mission, which emphasise human exploration preparatory science and introduces the model scientific payload considered as part of the on-going mission studies, in advance of a formal instrument selection.Comment: Accepted for Publication in Planetary and Space Science 51 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Modeling the Altitude Distribution of Meteor Head Echoes Observed with HPLA Radars-Implications on the Radar Detectability of Meteoroid Populations

The altitude distribution of meteors detected by a radar is sensitive to the instrument's response function and can thus provide insight into the physical processes involved in radar measurements. This, in turn, can be used to determine the rate of ablation and ionization of the meteoroids and ultimately the input flux on Earth. In this work, we model the radar meteor head echo altitude distribution for three High Power and Large Aperture radar systems, by considering meteoroid populations from the main cometary family sources. In this simulation, we first use the results of a dynamical model of small meteoroids impacting Earth's upper atmosphere to model the incoming mass, velocity, and entry angular distributions. We then combine these with the Chemical Ablation Model and establish the meteoroid ionization rates as a function of mass, velocity, and entry angle in order to determine the altitude at which these radars should detect the produced meteors and the portion of produced meteors from each population that are detected by these radars. We explore different sizes of head plasma as well as the possible effects on radar scattering of the head echo aspect sensitivity. We find that the modeled altitude distributions are generally in good agreement with measurements, particularly for ultra-high-frequency radars. In addition, our results indicate that the number of particles from Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs) required to fit the observations is lower than predicted by astronomical models. It is not clear yet if this discrepancy is due to the overprediction of JFC meteoroids by dynamical models or due to unaccounted physical processes in the treatment of ablation, ionization, and detections of meteoroids as they pass through Earth's atmosphere

Dust observations with antenna measurements and its prospects for observations with Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter

The electric and magnetic field instrument suite FIELDS on board the NASA Parker Solar Probe and the radio and plasma waves instrument RPW on the ESA Solar Orbiter mission that explore the inner heliosphere are sensitive to signals generated by dust impacts. Dust impacts have been observed using electric field antennas on spacecraft since the 1980s and the method was recently used with a number of space missions to derive dust fluxes. Here, we consider the details of dust impacts, subsequent development of the impact generated plasma and how it produces the measured signals. We describe empirical approaches to characterise the signals and compare these in a qualitative discussion of laboratory simulations to predict signal shapes for spacecraft measurements in the inner solar system. While the amount of charge production from a dust impact will be higher near the Sun than observed in the interplanetary medium before, the amplitude of pulses is determined by the recovery behaviour that is different near the Sun since it varies with the plasma environment

Magnetic Field Effect on Antenna Signals Induced by Dust Particle Impacts

The Radio and Plasma Wave Science instrument on Cassini has observed fewer than expected dust particle impacts during the mission's Grand Finale orbits. The relatively strong magnetic field in the close vicinity of the planet has been suggested to affect the intensity of the dust impact generated signals. A laboratory investigation is performed using dust particles accelerated to &ge;20&nbsp;km/s speed impacting onto a previously developed model of the spacecraft and the Radio and Plasma Wave Science antennas. The external magnetic field is generated by two sets of magnetic coils. The recorded antenna waveforms are decomposed into contributions from the electrons and ions of the dust impact generated plasma cloud. A good qualitative understanding of the waveforms is achieved by dividing the electron and ion population into two portions: one that is escaping from the spacecraft and another that is collected by the spacecraft. The experimental results show that the part of the signal corresponding to escaping electrons is affected by the magnetic field and that dust impact signals can be significantly reduced for spacecraft floating potentials close to zero. &nbsp;</p