Maxidusty-2

We plan to launch MXD2 during the PMSE season and aim for a launch window in July 2025. Optical and radar measurements are made in parallel. MXD2  is part of the International Grand Challenge Initiative Mesosphere / Lower Thermosphere (GCI M/LT).

The payload of the rocket will consist of the following instruments:

• DUSTY (UiT)
• SPID (UiT)
• MUDD (UiT)
• MESS (UiT)
• MAGIC (MISU)
• Faraday rotation experiment (IAP)
• CONE (IAP)
• Multi-needle Langmuir probe system (UiO)

Dust collection with MESS

MESS is designed to collect large ice particles ( non-melting particle fragments) that are  embedded in water ice particles that exist in summer and contain small meteoric smoke. The dust collection instrument is equipped with a conical funnel, which increases the collection area and fragments larger particles that hit the funnel. The non-volatile components can be analyzed in the laboratory. The collection with MESS is combined with dust and plasma in-situ measurements. Necessary low conditions for MESS were simulated with Direct  Simulation Monte Carlo at 85 km and a rocket  speed of 800 m/s. The instrument has to be recovered after the rocket launch. The Mach numbers in the airflow are shown in the image below.

DUSTY particle detector

The instrument DUSTY is  a Faraday cup dust detector used on rocket flights since the 1990s. It measures dust charge number  density of particles about 2 nm and larger. The instrument does not need recovery after the rocket launch.

SPID (Smoke Particle Impact Detector)

SPID is a Faraday instrument for the detection of small dust particles.  It is  a modified version of DUSTY to reduce the effect of airflow and use triboelectric charging in the detector.  The instrument  was previously launched on G-Chaser in January 2019.

MUDD

MUDD is a modified Faraday cup detector. The impacting particles are fragmented, heated and partially evaporated. Combining two MUDD with different settings improves resolution and accuracy of the measurements. 

MXD-2 sample analysis

We expect to collect the samples on standard TEM grids consisting of a metal mesh and a film on top. The metal used support film will be defined. Assuming that the rocket samples a 0.5 - 4 km height interval of PMSE and that the collected ice particles contain a 3 percent volume fraction of refractory MSP, the collected amount is 10¹² −10¹⁴ amu per mm² ( ie for average particle size 1 nm approx. 10⁴ particles per mm ² ) .

We plan TEM-EDX, possibly followed by FE-SEM analysis. The main challenge for mineral and chemical characterization of individual particles is their size and very small amount of the total material expected .

Outcome in best case is size distribution and morphology of collected particles with sizes > 1 nm (radius), relative abundances of the major chemical elements, and possible detection of elements associated with space debris.