SCIENCE HARDWARE USED:

Plasma Crystal-3 Hardware:

• Experimental unit:
  - Discharge rate of generated plasma - 13.56 MHz
  - Gas pressure in working chamber - 0.03 - 0.1 mm Hg
  - Density of monodisperse particles - 1.5 g/cm3
  - Sizes of dust particles - 3.4 and 6.9 µm
• Turbopump;
• Telescience equipment
  to control the process and record experiment results
  

CONSUMABLES:

• Video tapes Hi-8
  to record the generation process of plasma-dust structures;
• PCMCIA card
  to record the experiment parameters (gas pressure, HF-radiation power, dust particle sizes, etc.)

OBJECTIVE:

Phase 1a. Investigation of plasma-dust structures in gas-discharge plasma of a high-frequency capacitive discharge.
Phase 1b. Investigation of plasma-dust structures in plasma of glow discharge of direct current.
Phase 2. Investigation of effect of UV space radiation on behavior of macro-particles charged by photoemission.
Phase 3. Investigation of plasma-dust structures in space environment exposed to UV Sun radiation, plasma flows and ionizing radiation.

TASK:

Study of physical phenomena in plasma-dust crystals at different pressure levels of inert gas and power of HF generator in microgravity environment.

EXPECTED RESULTS:

Development of procedure for generation and monitoring of ordered structures of charged solid dust microparticles in plasma.