Duration: 14 months
The inter-planetary dust (IPD) environment offers key insights into planetary origins and poses significant hazards to space exploration. Due to their high velocities (> km/s), IPD particles, including micrometeorites, typically disrupt when they impact with a surface, and so they are difficult to collect directly or to inspect with images. Current IPD particle measurements rely on indirect surface charge estimations, providing little information on the nature of the particles, such as morphology and compactness [WBB+21]. Addressing these properties is vital to understand dust aggregate growth in planetary formation, and distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic debris sources as human activities in space increase [MM, PAN24]. In addition to the case of IPDs, dust levitation and transport near terrestrial surfaces help understand the geological and exospheric conditions of the Moon, Mars, and comets [MKD+18]. However there is no current method to directly track Lunar or Martian dust dynamics. Previous studies tracking cometary dust were conducted at low time resolutions, leaving gaps in understanding the dust ejection mechanisms [MP+2024]. While ultra-high-speed imaging systems for particle sizing and dynamical measurements are well-established on Earth, there are no applications of such technology in space environments. This tech-development study, conducted in collaboration with industry [LaVision GMbH], aims to adapt Earth-based high-speed particle imaging technology to meet the scientific and technical requirements for tracking dust and debris in space. Ground-based experiments at dust accelerator facilities, e.g. at the University of Stuttgart [MBA+11, LBK+23], will serve to assess the limits of current commercial cameras and lasers in terms of acquisition speed, resolution, and illumination requirements. This will be followed by engineering assessments and conceptual designs for adapting this technology for missions to terrestrial Solar system bodies.
