Plasma Interactions and Charging on the Lunar Surface: Modeling and Ground Tests
Abstract
The lunar surface is directly exposed to solar radiation and various space plasma environments. The resulting plasma-lunar surface interactions are relevant to almost all aspects of human and robotic lunar exploration activities as well as many natural processes on the lunar surface. This paper presents a correlated modeling and experimental investigation on plasma-lunar surface interactions and their effects on lunar surface charging, lunar spacecraft charging, and lunar dust charging. A 3-D simulation model using an immersed-finite-element formulation based particle-in-cell algorithm is developed to perform fully kinetic simulations of the near surface plasma charging environments for realistic lunar surface terrain and realistic lunar spacecraft. Vacuum chamber experiments are carried out to measure charging and plasma flow field in a simulated lunar plasma environment and to validate the simulation model. The results presented here will focus on the lunar terminator region where the combined effects from the low sun elevation angle and the localized plasma wake generated by plasma flow over a rugged terrain can generate strongly differentially charged surfaces. (This research is supported by the NASA Lunar Advanced Science and Exploration Research program.)
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.P42B..02W
- Keywords:
-
- 6250 PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS / Moon