Laboratory Investigation of Rate of Electrostatic Dust Lofting Over Time on Airless Planetary Bodies

We present the laboratory results on electrostatic dust lofting rates expected on airless planetary bodies. Dust lofting is shown to be a time‐dependent process that begins at a relatively fast rate on an initialized surface and slows down as time progresses. The slowdown is likely due to the filling of interparticle microcavities as a result of dust movement or the removal of loose upper layers, which reduces the microcavity charging effect. It is suggested that the transient dust lofting rate under the charging conditions at 1 AU may reach several particles·cm−2·s−1 lasting over a short duration. Such intense electrostatic dust lofting could be responsible for transient phenomena such as the lunar horizon glow and could be intermittently sustained by other processes that reinitialize the surface conditions. The average dust lofting rate on a geological timescale is expected to remain low due to the rate decrease over time.