DUST CONTAMINATION OF THE SPACECRAFT ENVIRONMENT BY EXPOSURE TO PLASMA

The presence of dust can dramatically alter how material bodies interact with a plasma environment. These dust-plasma-object interactions are increasingly thought to be important for several areas of research. To data, most studies of dust-plasma interactions have in magnetospheric physics, where researchers have identified them as a critical factor in various astrophysical plasmas. In the paper the authors review the experiment reported by Sheridan. A test sphere was coated with micron-size particulates and then placed in a laboratory plasma. To simulate a spacecraft, the sphere rotated at 10 rpm and it was electrically floating. This was done by mounting the sphere on a rotating support rod with an insulating break. The insulating break was a passive feature that assured that the sphere would be at the floating potential.