Laser-Assisted Dust Lunar Experiment: Investigating Electrostatic Dust Transport on the Moon

Kurzfassung

The poster presents a laser-assisted method for studying electrostatically lifted lunar dust. A rover-mounted laser scans above the surface, while a stereo camera records light scattered by suspended particles. The aim is to detect and size individual dust particles, estimate their velocity, and compare the measurements with Mie-scattering models. Laboratory tests used a pulsed 532 nm laser and a CMOS camera to image silica and metal-coated test particles. Image processing included dark-frame subtraction, background normalization, contrast enhancement, and threshold-based detection. The poster reports that individual particles can be detected optically, with particles around 10–30 µm producing signals consistent with the scattering model. Sensitivity is mainly limited by optical resolution, detector noise, and particle agglomeration. The work could support in-situ dust monitoring on lunar landers and rovers, studies of horizon glow, and validation of electrostatic dust-transport models. The authors recommend testing in vacuum and plasma conditions with lunar regolith and a more compact, flight-representative instrument.