Wang, et al., report on laboratory experiments to shed light on dust charging and transport that have been suggested to explain a variety of unusual phenomena on the surfaces of airless planetary bodies. They have recorded micron-sized insulating dust particles jumping to several centimeters high with an initial speed of About 0.6 m per s under ultraviolet illumination or exposure to plasmas, resulting in an equivalent height of about 0.11 on the lunar surface that is comparable to the height of the so-called lunar horizon glow.
Lofted large aggregates and surface mobilization are related to many space observations. They experimentally show that the emission and re-absorption of photo electron and secondary electron at the walls of microcavities formed between neighboring dust particles below the surface are responsible for generating unexpectedly large negative charges and intense particle-particle repulsive forces to mobilize and lift off dust particles.
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