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2.2.5 Electrostatic Disruption of Lunar Dust Particles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

John W. Rhee
John W. Rhee*
Affiliation:
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana 47803 Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

Extract

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An investigation has been made to study a possibility that dust particles might catastrophically explode on the lunar surface due to electrostatic charging. It is shown that for the dark side along the terminator zone, dust balls and compact stony particles of micron and submicron sizes will be blown up if their surface potential is as low as a kilovolt negative. This mechanism will not operate on the sunlit side because the potential is only 3.5 ~ 20 volts positive. Some of these fragments may possibly levitate in the vicinity of the terminator.

Type
2 In Situ Measurements of Interplanetary Dust
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 31: Interplanetary Dust and Zodiacal Light , 1976 , pp. 238 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Springer-Verlag 1976

References

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