Professor Robertson does laboratory experiments relating to dust in ionospheric and space plasma. Exploration activities on the surfaces of small moons expose robotic instrument to hazards from the dusty soil. The dust is exposed to solar UV and the solar wind causing charging of the dust particles which enhances dust transport. Laboratory experiments are aimed at understanding charging mechanisms in dusty plasma environments. There are smoke particles in the ionosphere from the ablation of meteors that collect charge and create dusty plasmas. These particles are probably the nucleation sites for mesospheric clouds. Professor Robertson continues to develop rocket payloads for launch into the polar mesosphere to determine the location and charge to mass ratio of these particles.
keywords
dust in plasmas, the dusty lunar surface, meteoric dust in the ionosphere
