Development of the Mercury dust monitor (MDM) onboard the BepiColombo mission

Nogami, K.; Fujii, Masayuki; Ohashi, Hideo; Miyachi, T.; Sasaki, Sho; Hasegawa, Susumu; Yano, Hajime; Shibata, Hiromi; Iwai, Takeo; Minami, Shigeyuki; Takechi, Seiji; Grün, E.; Srama, R.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2008.08.016

Cited by 33 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…40 Future missions with dust instrumentation, such as BepiColombo (MDM) (Ref. 41) and LADEE (LDEX), 42 currently make use of the facility and the Stardust project performs in depth studies of dust penetration into low-density aerogel. 43,44 The facility triggered the development of new collector materials (fluorescent aerogel) and new detector concepts such as multi-array piezo detectors, trajectory sensors, and high-resolution large area mass spectrometers.…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator as a tool for planetary and impact physics research

Mocker

Bugiel

Auer³

et al. 2011

Review of Scientific Instruments

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Investigating the dynamical and physical properties of cosmic dust can reveal a great deal of information about both the dust and its many sources. Over recent years, several spacecraft (e.g., Cassini, Stardust, Galileo, and Ulysses) have successfully characterised interstellar, interplanetary, and circumplanetary dust using a variety of techniques, including in situ analyses and sample return. Charge, mass, and velocity measurements of the dust are performed either directly (induced charge signals) or indirectly (mass and velocity from impact ionisation signals or crater morphology) and constrain the dynamical parameters of the dust grains. Dust compositional information may be obtained via either time-of-flight mass spectrometry of the impact plasma or direct sample return. The accurate and reliable interpretation of collected spacecraft data requires a comprehensive programme of terrestrial instrument calibration. This process involves accelerating suitable solar system analogue dust particles to hypervelocity speeds in the laboratory, an activity performed at the Max Planck Institut für Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany. Here, a 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator electrostatically accelerates charged micron and submicron-sized dust particles to speeds up to 80 km s(-1). Recent advances in dust production and processing have allowed solar system analogue dust particles (silicates and other minerals) to be coated with a thin conductive shell, enabling them to be charged and accelerated. Refinements and upgrades to the beam line instrumentation and electronics now allow for the reliable selection of particles at velocities of 1-80 km s(-1) and with diameters of between 0.05 μm and 5 μm. This ability to select particles for subsequent impact studies based on their charges, masses, or velocities is provided by a particle selection unit (PSU). The PSU contains a field programmable gate array, capable of monitoring in real time the particles' speeds and charges, and is controlled remotely by a custom, platform independent, software package. The new control instrumentation and electronics, together with the wide range of accelerable particle types, allow the controlled investigation of hypervelocity impact phenomena across a hitherto unobtainable range of impact parameters.

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Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator as a tool for planetary and impact physics research

Mocker

Bugiel

Auer³

et al. 2011

Review of Scientific Instruments

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“…Highly reliable impact momentum sensors were realized with Giotto's Dust Impact Detection System (DIDSY, McDonnell et al, 1987) Magnetosphere Orbiter mission (MMO) use four highly sensitive piezoelectric ceramic sensor plates of 16 cm 2 each. The full waveform of any signal will be recorded and transmitted to Earth (Nogami et al, 2010). Calibration of electrostatic dust accelerators provides means to identify dust impacts, to measure the momentum transferred, and to estimate coarsely the impact speed from the signal form.…”

Section: Dust Detections By In Situ Detectors Throughout the Planetarmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dawn of Dust Astronomy

2019

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We review the development of dust science from the first ground-based astronomical observations of dust in space to compositional analysis of individual dust particles and their source objects. A multitude of observational techniques is available for the scientific study of space dust: from meteors and interplanetary dust particles collected in the upper atmosphere to dust analyzed in situ or returned to Earth. In situ dust detectors have been developed from simple dust impact detectors determining the dust hazard in Earth orbit to dust telescopes capable of providing compositional analysis and accurate trajectory determination of individual dust particles in space. The concept of Dust Astronomy has been developed, recognizing that dust particles, like photons, carry information from remote sites in space and time. From knowledge of the dust particles' birthplace and their bulk properties, we learn about the remote environment out of which the particles were formed. Dust Observatory missions like Cassini, Stardust, and Rosetta study Saturn's satellites and rings and the dust environments of comet Wild 2 and comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, respectively. Supplemented by simulations of dusty processes in the laboratory we are beginning to understand the dusty environments in space.

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“…MSASI (Mercury Sodium Atmosphere Spectral Imager), an imaging system is also included for the study of the sodium exosphere (Yoshikawa et al, 2010). MDM (Mercury Dust Monitor) covers the dust information around Mercury and the inner heliosphere (Nogami et al, 2010). The combination of all with the MPO payloads will observe the unique environments of Mercury, characterized by the weak intrinsic magnetic fields and the high dynamic pressure of the solar wind.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science operation concept of BepiColombo/MMO based on the MDP scheme

Kasaba¹,

Takashima²,

Nishino³

et al. 2019

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Planetary Science 2011

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BepiColombo Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), which was launched in 2018, is dedicated to the first detailed study of magnetic field and the environment of the innermost planet Mercury. This orbiter has wide-range observational capabilities with 5 payload groups; MGF (Magnetic Field Investigation), MPPE (Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment), PWI (Plasma Wave Investigation), MSASI (Mercury Sodium Atmosphere Spectral Imager), and MDM (Mercury Dust Monitor). These payloads are operated through the Mission Data Processor (MDP), and act as an integrated measurement system observing charged and energetic neutral particles, magnetic and electric fields, plasma waves, radio waves, dust, and exospheric constituents. The MDP produces three kinds of data sets, Survey data (L-mode) for continuous monitoring, Nominal data (M-mode) for nominal science analyses with the length of several hours, and Burst data (H-mode) for short data but with the highest quality, with a coordinated manner within our limited telemetry resource. The MDP takes Burst data triggered by preset commands or onboard automatic decision. Although Nominal and Burst data cannot fully dumped by the limitation of telemetry bandwidth, partial key terms are dumped by the selection of a scientist team based on Survey or Nominal data. These functions are now implemented and tested.

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Development of the Mercury dust monitor (MDM) onboard the BepiColombo mission

Cited by 33 publications

References 14 publications

A 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator as a tool for planetary and impact physics research

A 2 MV Van de Graaff accelerator as a tool for planetary and impact physics research

The Dawn of Dust Astronomy

Science operation concept of BepiColombo/MMO based on the MDP scheme

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