The article is a review of the state of research on physical processes occurring near the surface of airless bodies, in particular, the Moon, asteroids, comets, which lead to their erosion, that is, to the modification of superficial and sometimes even deeper layers. External influences on the bodies are considered—micrometeor streams, solar wind and geomagnetic tail plasma flows, solar electromagnetic radiation, and cosmic rays, which are the main causes of erosion. The main features of airless bodies belonging to different classes are given. The main physical mechanisms that can lead to the release and removal of dust particles from the surface of regolith are analyzed, in particular, the energy aspects of high-speed micrometeor impacts, electrostatic processes of particle release from the surface, and thermodynamic processes occurring in the near-surface layers of cometary nuclei. The conditions for the removal of dust particles from the surface of a rotating body and the conditions under which the body can collapse are considered. Depending on the characteristics of these bodies, the processes of erosion, as well as the causes of its occurrence, can vary significantly. The main unresolved problems associated with the processes of erosion of bodies, which require further research, are considered.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
November 2022
Review Article|
November 09 2022
Physical processes leading to surface erosion and dust particles dynamics of airless bodies
Special Collection:
Reviews and Tutorials in Dusty Plasmas
A. V. Zakharov
;
A. V. Zakharov
a)
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
1
Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
, Moscow 117997, Russia
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
S. I. Popel
;
S. I. Popel
(Data curation, Writing – original draft)
1
Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
, Moscow 117997, Russia
Search for other works by this author on:
I. A. Kuznetsov
;
I. A. Kuznetsov
(Data curation, Writing – review & editing)
1
Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
, Moscow 117997, Russia
Search for other works by this author on:
N. D. Borisov
;
N. D. Borisov
(Data curation, Writing – review & editing)
2
Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences
, Troitsk 108840, Russia
Search for other works by this author on:
E. V. Rosenfeld
;
E. V. Rosenfeld
(Data curation, Writing – review & editing)
3
Institute of Metal Physics, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
, Ekaterinburg 620137, Russia
Search for other works by this author on:
Yu. Skorov;
Yu. Skorov
(Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
4
Geophysik und extraterrestrische Physik, Technische Universität Braunschweig
, Braunschweig 38092, Germany
Search for other works by this author on:
L. M. Zelenyi
L. M. Zelenyi
(Data curation, Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
1
Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
, Moscow 117997, Russia
Search for other works by this author on:
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
Phys. Plasmas 29, 110501 (2022)
Article history
Received:
August 02 2022
Accepted:
October 19 2022
Citation
A. V. Zakharov, S. I. Popel, I. A. Kuznetsov, N. D. Borisov, E. V. Rosenfeld, Yu. Skorov, L. M. Zelenyi; Physical processes leading to surface erosion and dust particles dynamics of airless bodies. Phys. Plasmas 1 November 2022; 29 (11): 110501. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0117833
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
Progress toward fusion energy breakeven and gain as measured against the Lawson criterion
Samuel E. Wurzel, Scott C. Hsu
Weakly nonlinear incompressible Rayleigh–Taylor–Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in plane geometry
Zhen-Qi Zou, Jun-Feng Wu, et al.
FreeGSNKE: A Python-based dynamic free-boundary toroidal plasma equilibrium solver
N. C. Amorisco, A. Agnello, et al.
Related Content
The Oxford space environment goniometer: A new experimental setup for making directional emissivity measurements under a simulated space environment
Rev. Sci. Instrum. (December 2017)
Shock waves in cosmic space and planetary materials
AIP Conference Proceedings (August 1993)
Revisiting lunar dust charging and dynamics
Phys. Plasmas (October 2024)
Light flashes caused by impacts against the moon
AIP Conference Proceedings (July 1998)
Radiometric calibration of thermal emission data from the Asteroid and Lunar Environment Chamber (ALEC)
Rev. Sci. Instrum. (September 2019)