2024 Volume 2 Article ID: 184
We are developing a dust observation instrument, Circum-Martian Dust Monitor (CMDM), for use on JAXA’s Mars and Moon Explorer (MMX), which aims to detect in-situ dust particles orbiting Mars with theoretically predicted sizes ranging from tens to hundreds of micrometers and impact velocities from about 0.2 km/s to about 0.8 km/s. CMDM sensor consists only of a polyimide film and a piezoelectric ceramic element. The sensor is based on the new idea of using polyimide film as the sensing medium. However, it has a classical and straightforward structure as a dust sensor, where the acoustic signal excited by dust particles impacting the sensing medium is read out as an electrical signal by the piezoelectric transducers. An engineering model (EM) of CMDM has been manufactured and tested, and the critical design has been completed. This paper describes the capabilities and performances of CMDM by presenting the features of the EM as a result of the detailed design of CMDM.
