Dust Dynamics and Electrostatics on Airless Bodies
Summary
Airless planetary surfaces, such as those of the Moon, Mercury, asteroids and comets, present a unique laboratory for the study of dust transport driven by electrostatic forces. In the absence of a dense atmosphere, solar ultraviolet radiation, the impinging solar wind plasma and micrometeoroid impacts collectively charge the surface and the finest fraction of the regolith. Photoelectric emission and secondary electron release establish surface potentials that vary with illumination, plasma conditions and local magnetic anomalies. Resulting electric fields can lift, loft and accelerate dust particles, producing phenomena such as lunar horizon glow, transient dust fountains and redistribution of surface fines. These processes influence surface weathering, optical properties, the evolution of exospheres and pose engineering challenges for scientific instrumentation and crewed operations. Numerical modelling, laboratory simulation and remote sensing have converged to reveal the interplay between charge accumulation, particle size, topography and the space environment, yielding insights essential for the design of future missions and in situ resource utilisation strategies.
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Dust Dynamics and Electrostatics on Airless Bodies publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in dust dynamics and electrostatics on airless bodies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Regolith: Unconsolidated layer of rock fragments, mineral grains and dust covering an airless body’s surface.
Photoemission: Release of electrons from a surface upon absorption of photons, typically ultraviolet.
Secondary electron emission: Ejection of electrons following impact by energetic particles or photons.
Particle-in-cell simulation: Computational plasma model that tracks charged particles and fields self-consistently.
Electrostatic lifting: Process by which electric fields overcome gravity and cohesive forces to mobilise dust grains.
Plasma sheath: Non-neutral layer of plasma adjacent to a charged surface, where significant potential drop occurs.
References
- Properties of Lunar Dust and Their Migration on the Moon. Space Science & Technology (2024).
- Three-dimensional Particle-in-cell Simulations of the Solar Wind Interaction with Asteroid 2016 HO3. The Astrophysical Journal (2023).
- Experiments on the Electrostatic Transport of Charged Anorthite Particles under Electron Beam Irradiation. The Astrophysical Journal (2022).
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