8 months ago
ISRO's DEX Detects Interplanetary Dust Particles
ISRO's DEX instrument, which was sent into space on January 1, 2024, has detected tiny dust particles from space hitting Earth every thousand seconds.
These particles, called interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), come from comets and asteroids.
DEX is a special detector that can measure these high-speed impacts using very little power.
It can help scientists understand more about space and make future space missions safer.
DEX can also be used to study dust in the atmospheres of Venus and Mars, and around the Moon.
This is important for protecting satellites and future manned missions to other planets.
ISRO's DEX instrument detected interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) bombarding Earth every thousand seconds.
DEX was developed by ISRO’s Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad and flown on the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM).
The instrument successfully logged signals of dust impacts from January 1, 2024, to February 9, 2024, confirming its capability.
DEX is a 3 kg dust detector based on the hypervelocity principle, consuming only 4.5 Watts of power.
The data from DEX can help study cosmic dust in the atmospheres of Venus, Mars, and around the Moon, ensuring safety for future space missions.
- Who
- ISRO’s Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad
- What
- Detection of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) by DEX
- Where
- Earth’s orbit at 350 km altitude
- When
- January 1, 2024 to February 9, 2024
- Why
- To study cosmic dust impacts and ensure safety for future space missions
Key facts
- Instrument
- Dust EXperiment (DEX)
- Developer
- ISRO’s Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad
- Detection Period
- January 1, 2024 to February 9, 2024
- Altitude
- 350 km
- Power Consumption
- 4.5 Watts
- Weight
- 3 kg
- Mission
- PSLV-C58 XPoSat
Quotes
ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation
“The 140 degree wide-view detector successfully logged signals of orbital debris’ (dust) impacts during January 1, 2024 to February 9, 2024, confirming the instrument’s capability to identify and measure such events. Skimming Earth’s atmosphere on a 9.5 inclination, the detector registered several hits– a cosmic invader striking every thousand seconds”
theprint.in
“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”
theprint.in
Sources
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