Instrument Information
IDENTIFIER urn:nasa:pds:context:instrument:ladee.ldex::1.2
NAME Lunar Dust EXperiment for LADEE
TYPE Dust Analyzer
DESCRIPTION The Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) instrument carried aboard the LADEE mission is an in-situ instrument designed to characterize the dust exosphere by mapping the size and spatial distributions of dust grains in the lunar environment as a function of local time and the position of the Moon with respect to the magnetosphere of the Earth. LDEX is an impact ionization dust detector using a hemispherical impact target with an effective sensor area of approximately 100 square cm. A plasma cloud is created after a dust particle impacts the target, the current pulse of that impact is measured. The ions and electrons created in the plasma cloud are separated by an ion focusing grid, allowing a charge sensitive amplifier to measure the electrons, and a microchannel plate to measure the ions. The system can detect individual dust grains of radius greater than 0.3 microns, and can also measure the cumulative charge from a population of smaller grains (0.1 to 0.3 microns).
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REFERENCES LADEE LDEX PDS Software Interface Specification, Rev C, Ames Research Center Document, April 16, 2014

Horanyi, M., Z. Sternovsky, M. Lankton, C. Dumont, S. Gagnard, D. Gathright, E. Grun, D. Hansen, D. James, S. Kempf, B. Lamprecht, R. Srama, J. R. Szalay, and G. Wright, The Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX) onboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Mission, Space Science Reviews, submitted, 2014.