Distribution of charged lunar dust in the south polar region of the moon

• Published in: Chinese physics B 2022-03, Vol.31 (4), p.45201-505
• Main Authors: Xia, Qing, Cai, Ming-Hui, Xu, Liang-Liang, Han, Rui-Long, Yang, Tao, Han, Jian-Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: lunar dust; mini-crater; solar wind; south polar region
• ISSN: 1674-1056
• DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac2e61

Lunar dust is one of the most threatening problems confronting the return of human beings to the moon. In this work we studied the spatial distribution behavior of charged lunar dust in the solar wind plasma environment in the south polar region of the moon and considered the influence of a mini-crater using Spacecraft Plasma Interactions Software. The distribution of dust and plasma at low solar altitude angles of 20° and 0° was studied, and the spatial density of lunar dust was ∼ 10 10.4 m −3 and ∼ 10 11.5 m −3 , respectively. This is because a higher surface potential will result in transportation of small dust particles and photoelectrons can also neutralize positively charged lunar dust. The dust density in the plasma void region created by a mini-crater with a 5 m high wall was studied. We obtained a quasi-neutral electric environment in the plasma void region of the mini-crater, and the dust density was about a magnitude lower than that in other regions. The dust risk to a spacesuit is much lower on the nightside than on the dayside, but there is severe charged lunar dust transport in the region between light and shade, which is dominated by the difference in surface and plasma potential caused by photoelectrons.