Detecting meteoroid streams with an in-situ dust detector above an airless body

The Lunar Dust Experiment (LDEX), aboard NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) successfully mapped the dust density distribution over the lunar surface up to an altitude of ∼ 250 km. LDEX detected dust grains launched off the surface in ejecta plumes generated by impacts of cometary and asteroidal micrometeoroids striking the Moon. While on average LDEX detected particles at a rate of 1 min−1, periodically it measured bursts of particles at a rate exceeding the average value by up to two orders of magnitude. The timing and location of the most intense period of bursts is used here to independently determine the radiant for the Geminids meteoroid stream. The method is proposed to be of general interest to characterize meteoroid streams bombarding any of the airless bodies in the solar system using in-situ dust detectors.