Dust levitation over the moon surface

Abstract

Determining the mechanisms of formation of lunar dust, the study of the dynamics and interaction of dust particles with plasma and with the surface of spacecraft are relevant, while there are several theoretical models for studying the formation of a plasma-dust sheath above the surface of the moon.

The article presents a brief review of studies that have investigated the dynamics of dust particles in the plasma sheath above the lunar surface. A computational model of the dynamics of dust particles levitating above the surface of the moon was created on the basis of the molecular dynamics simulations. The distribution of the dust particle sшяу has been determined. We consider the physical conditions such as - the density of the regolith, particle size, parameters (density, temperature of electrons and ions, velocity) of the solar wind, which characterize the dynamics of dust particles near the lunar surface. Charging of dust particles was calculated taking into account the density of electrons, solar wind ions and photoelectrons in the orbital motion limited. The graph of the dust particle charge versus time is plotted. The processes of charging dust particles in a plasma medium near the surface of the moon can lead to levitation and the transport of dust particles across the surface of the moon under the influence of a gravitational and electric fields.