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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2010

Lunar Dust Lifting Experiment (LDLE) for the ESA Lunar Lander

Elena Seran
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 920289
Michel Godefroy
  • Fonction : Auteur
N. Renno
  • Fonction : Auteur
B. Block
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

We have been developing an experiment entitled Lunar Dust Lifting Experiment (LDLE) for ESA's Lunar Lander. The main purpose of this experiment is to study the lunar dust properties and the mechanisms that charge and transport lunar dust particles. The LDLE consists of two electric field sensors, a cylindrical Field Mill (FM) developed by SPRL/US and a Short Dipole Antenna (SDA) developed by LATMOS/France. These two instruments use different principles to measure electric fields. The FM measures the current between the two sections of a rotating cylinder split into two along its axis, while SDA measures the potentials of two spatially separated electrodes. These two principles of measurements cause differences in performance between the two sensors. The FM is capable of measuring dc electric fields ranging from ~10 to 106 V m-1. The SDA is capable of measuring electric fields of up to ~200 V m-1 from dc to ~10 kHz with very high sensitivity, about ~40 μV m-1 Hz-1/2. The performance of the LATMOS/SPRL LDLE package allows simultaneous measurements of electric fields at few cm above the lunar surface (where electric fields are expected to be of the order of tens of kV m-1) and at few meters above it (where the electric field is much weaker, i.e. of the order of few tens of V m-1). The SDA's sensitivity to weak electric fields and quick variations in its amplitude will allow studies of the mass/charge ratio of lunar dust particles and the analysis of electric perturbations associated with dust-dust, dust-electrode and dust-lander impacts. We plan to validate the LDLE concept during flights with stratospheric balloons in regions with strong and variable electric fields, like those found in auroral regions during the magnetospheric storms.
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Dates et versions

hal-00669012 , version 1 (10-02-2012)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-00669012 , version 1

Citer

Elena Seran, Michel Godefroy, N. Renno, B. Block. Lunar Dust Lifting Experiment (LDLE) for the ESA Lunar Lander. Lunar Dust, Plasma and Atmosphere: the next steps, Jan 2010, Boulder, United States. ⟨hal-00669012⟩
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