BENGALURU: The first-ever Dust Experiment (DEX) done by Indian space researchers has yielded results. But this is not road dust or any other dust. It is the cosmic dust.
There are Interplanetary Dust Particles (IDPs) in space. These microscopic shrapnels from comets and asteroids form the atmosphere's meteor layer and show up as shooting stars.
The DEX is the first Indian-made instrument to hunt for these high speed IDPs. It was flown on PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) of the PSLV-C58 XPoSat Mission on January 1, 2024. It rocketed to an altitude of 350Km.
"The DEX, a compact instrument is tuned to hear impacts, capturing vital data that redefines our understanding of the universe and charts the path for safe human deep-space missions. At the core of the experiment lies a 3-kilogram dust detector based on the cutting-edge hypervelocity principle designed to capture high-speed space dust impacts with only 4.5 W power consumption," researchers from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), that conducted the study, said on Monday.
The wide-view detector of the instrument successfully logged signals of orbital debris’ (dust) impacts from January 1- February 9, 2024, confirming the instrument's capability to identify and measure such events. Skimming Earth's atmosphere, the detector registered several hits: a cosmic invader striking every thousand seconds, the team explained.
The researchers added that the DEX delivered the most recent observations of IDPs entering Earth’s atmosphere. Definitive measurements of the dust flux were also captured, confirmation the constant bombardment from outer space.
"However, at present, we have no measurements of cosmic dust in the thick atmosphere of Venus or in the thin atmosphere of the red planet Mars. DEX is a blueprint of the detector which can study the cosmic dust particle at any planet having atmosphere or no atmosphere. The proven success of the Earth-orbiting DEX can provide the first-ever direct measurements of IDP within the uncharted atmospheres of Venus or Mars, but can also provide new measurements around the Moon. Beyond pure science, this data is mission-critical. The ability to measure IDPs is essential for monitoring the space environment, precisely assessing hazards for our satellites, and ultimately, ensuring the safety and success of future manned missions to Moon, Mars and beyond," the ISRO team said.