Dust charge measurements by the Lunar Dust Experiment

Abstract

The Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission discovered a permanently present dust cloud engulfing the Moon. The size, velocity, and density distributions of the dust particles are consistent with ejecta clouds generated from the continual bombardment of the lunar surface by sporadic interplanetary dust particles. Intermittent density enhancements were observed during several of the annual meteoroid streams, especially during the Geminids. In addition to the mass and speed of the impacting particles, in a significant fraction of the events, LDEX also recorded the electrostatic charge of the dust grains before their impact. Here we report on the initial analysis of the LDEX dust charge measurements.