Characteristics of dust plasma environment at lunar south pole

Li Meng-Yao; Xia Qing; Cai Ming-Hui; Yang Tao; Xu Liang-Liang; Jia Xin-Yu; Han Jian-Wei

doi:10.7498/aps.73.20240599

Abstract

Unlike the Earth, the Moon lacks is not protected from the atmosphere and global magnetic field, and will be directly exposed to complex radiation environments such as high-energy cosmic rays, solar wind, and the Earth’s magnetotail plasma. The surface of the Moon is covered with a thick layer of lunar soil, and the particles in the soil with a diameter between 30 nm–20 μm are called lunar dust. In the complex environments such as solar wind or magnetotail plasma, lunar dust carries an electric charge and becomes charged lunar dust. Charged lunar dust is prone to migration under the action of the electric field on the lunar surface. Charged migrated lunar dust is easy to adhere to the surface of instruments and equipment, resulting in visual impairment, astronauts’ movement disorders, equipment mechanical blockage, sealing failure, and material wear, which affects the lunar exploration mission. As an important lunar exploration landing site, the lunar south pole receives special solar radiation and produces a special dust plasma environment due to its special location. In order to provide an environmental reference for lunar south pole exploration, it is necessary to explore the characteristics of the dust plasma environment in the lunar south pole and its impact. In view of the lunar south pole environment, The Spacecraft Plasma Interactions Software (SPIS) software developed by the European Space Agency is used to carry out modelling and simulation in this work. Through the simulation, the logarithmic distribution of the lunar dust space density in a range of 0–200 m at the lunar south pole, the potential distribution near the lunar surface, and the spatial distribution characteristics of plasma electrons and ions are obtained. The obtained lunar dust space density and lunar surface potential are similar to the previous theoretical derivation and field detection data, so the simulation results have high reliability. The spatial potential distribution and the spatial density distribution of electrons and ions in the lunar environment with and without lunar dust are compared. Finally, the conclusions can be drawn as follows. The space potential increases with altitude increasing. The potential at 0–10 m near the lunar south pole is about –40 V, and the space potential at 100 m is about –20 V. The density of lunar dust in an altitude range below 10 m is 10^7.22 m^–3–10^4.66 m^–3. The electron density in the dust plasma near the lunar surface is 10^5.47 m^–3, and the ion density is 10^6.07 m^–3, and both increase with altitude increasing. Charged lunar dust affects the spatial distribution of lunar dust, mainly through affecting the distribution of the space electric field, which leads to difference in electron distribution, but has little effect on ions.

Keywords:

Authors and contacts

1.
State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
2.
School of Electronic, Electrical and Communication Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
3.
School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Corresponding author: Cai Ming-Hui, caiminghui@nssc.ac.cn

Funds: Project supported by the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42204175).

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References

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Cited By

图 1 仿真区域网格划分图

Figure 1. Mesh division diagram of the simulation area.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 2 仿真过程中电流的变化

Figure 2. Changes in current during simulation.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 3 月尘颗粒带电量对数分布(月球南极环境, 单位: C)

Figure 3. Logarithmic distribution of charge amount of lunar dust particles (lunar south pole environment, unit: C).

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 4 月尘空间密度对数分布(月球南极环境, 单位: m^–3)

Figure 4. Logarithmic distribution of lunar dust spatial density (lunar south pole environment, unit: m^–3).

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 5 等离子体空间密度对数分布(月球南极环境, 单位: m^–3)　(a) 电子; (b) 离子

Figure 5. Logarithmic distribution of plasma spatial density (lunar south pole environment, unit: m^–3): (a) Electrons; (b) ions.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 6 月面附近电位分布(月球南极环境, 单位: V)

Figure 6. Potential distribution near the lunar surface (lunar south pole environment, unit: V).

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 7 月尘空间密度分布

Figure 7. Distribution of lunar dust spatial density.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 8 月尘空间电位分布

Figure 8. Distribution of lunar dust space potential.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 9 电子空间密度分布

Figure 9. Distribution of electron spatial density.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 10 离子空间密度分布

Figure 10. Distribution of ion spatial density.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

[1]	Zhang S S, Wang S J, Li X Y, Li S J, Tang H, Li Y, Yu W 2013 J. Earth. Sci. 38 339 Google Scholar
[2]	Gaier J R 2007 The Effects of Lunar Dust on EVA Systems During the Apollo Missions NASA Technical Report TM-2005-213610
[3]	Park J, Liu Y, Kihm K D, Hill E, Taylor L A 2006 Earth & Space 2006: Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environment (Houston: American Society of Civil Engineers) p1
[4]	Horányi M, Szalay J R, Wang X 2024 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 382 20230075 Google Scholar
[5]	Sickafoose A A, Colwell J E, Horányi M, Robertson S 2001 Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 106 8343 Google Scholar
[6]	Sickafoose A A, Colwell J E, Horányi M, Robertson S 2002 Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 107 SMP 37-1 Google Scholar
[7]	Sternovsky Z, Robertson S, Sickafoose A, Colwell J, Horányi M 2002 J. Geophys. Res. Planets. 107 15 Google Scholar
[8]	Colwell J E, Robertson S R, Horányi M, Wang X, Poppe A, Wheeler P 2009 J. Aerosp. Eng. 22 2 Google Scholar
[9]	Colwell J E, Batiste S, Horányi M, Robertson S, Sture S 2007 Rev. Geophys. 45 RG2006 Google Scholar
[10]	Wang X, Schwan J, Hsu H W, Grün E, Horányi M 2016 Geophys. Res. Lett. 43 6103 Google Scholar
[11]	Popel S I, Zelenyi L M 2013 J. Plasma Phys. 79 405 Google Scholar
[12]	Popel S I, Golub’ A P, Izvekova Y N, Afonin V V, Dol’nikov G G, Zakharov A V, Petrov O F 2014 JETP Lett. 99 115 Google Scholar
[13]	Popel S I, Golub’ A P, Zelenyi L M 2014 Eur. Phys. J. D. 68 245 Google Scholar
[14]	Popel S I, Golub’ A P, Lisin E A, Izvekova Y N, Atamaniuk B, Dol’nikov G G, Zelenyi L M 2016 JETP Lett. 103 563 Google Scholar
[15]	Popel S I, Golub’ A P, Zelenyi L M, Horányi M 2017 JETP Lett. 105 635 Google Scholar
[16]	Popel S I, Zelenyi L M, Dubinskii A Y 2018 Planet. Space Sci. 156 71 Google Scholar
[17]	Popel S I, Zelenyi L M 2014 J. Plasma. Phys. 80 885 Google Scholar
[18]	Anuar A K 2013 Ph. D. Dissertation (United Kingdom: Lancaster University
[19]	Sternovsky Z, Chamberlin P, Horanyi M, Robertson S, Wang X 2008 J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 113 A10104 Google Scholar
[20]	Robertson S H, Sternovsky Z, Horanyi M 2010 IEEE. Trans. Plasma. Sci. 38 766 Google Scholar
[21]	Hartzell C M, Bellan P, Bodewits D, Delzanno G L, Hirabayashi M, Hyde T, Israelsson U 2023 Acta. Astronaut. 207 89 Google Scholar
[22]	Xie L H, Zhang X, Li L, Zhou B, Zhang Y, Yan Q, Yu S, Feng Y, Guo D, Yu S 2020 Geophys. Res. Lett. 47 e2020GL089593 Google Scholar
[23]	Zhao C X, Gan H, Xie L H, Wang Y, Wang Y J, Hong J Y 2023 Sci. China Earth Sci. 66 2278 Google Scholar
[24]	Hess S L G, Sarrailh P, Matéo-Vélez J C, Jeanty-Ruard B, Cipriani F, Forest J, Rodgers D 2015 IEEE. Trans. Plasma. Sci. 43 2799-2807 Google Scholar
[25]	Dyadechkin S, Kallio E, Wurz P 2015 J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics. 120 1589 Google Scholar
[26]	SPIS-DUST Detailed Design Document and Software User Manual_v2, Sarrailh P, Hess S, Mateo Velez J C, Jeanty Ruard B, Forest J https://www.spis.org/software/spis/documentation/ [2024-4-30]
[27]	Halekas J S, Delory G T, Lin R P, Stubbs T J, Farrell W M 2008 J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 113 A09102 Google Scholar
[28]	Williams J P, Paige D A, Greenhagen B T, Sefton-Nash E 2017 Icarus. 283 300 Google Scholar
[29]	De Rosa D, Bussey B, Cahill J T, Lutz T, Crawford I A, Hackwill T, Carpenter J D 2012 Planet. Space Sci. 74 224 Google Scholar
[30]	Freeman J W, Ibrahim M 1975 Lunar Science Institute, Conference on Interactions of the Interplanetary Plasma with the Modern and Ancient Moon Lake Geneva, Wis, September 30–October 4, 1974 p103

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