Pulsing Characteristic Effects on the Charging of Iron Dust Sources

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/12579s61p

Abstract

The Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies’ (CCLDAS) electrostatic dust accelerator at the University of Colorado is used to simulate hypervelocity dust impacts similar to those seen in space and on airless bodies in the solar system. The charging of dust is done via pulsing a reservoir while maintaining a needle in the center of the reservoir at a constant voltage. Once the dust is charged it is accelerated out of the source and through an electric potential of up to 3 MV. The dust charging eﬃciency seen at both the CU accelerator and the sister facility in Heidelberg, Germany is well below the expected maximum charging limit. The work presented in this paper will focus on how the characteristics of the pulse relate to the charging of the dust particles and how to improve the charging eﬃciency.

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