Just as Earth is dominated by its oceans, Mars is dominated by its dust. On Earth, understanding water is crucial for comprehending the planet's ecosystems and climate. Similarly, understanding dust on Mars is essential for gaining insights into its climate, geology, and potential for supporting life. By studying Martian dust, we can uncover vital information about the Red Planet.
The Mars Dust Project at BYU, funded by NASA, is developing methods for measuring the size and electrical charge of dust particles. Hyrum Jardine, an undergraduate student of BYU Computer Engineering, was recently awarded the best paper award at the iETC conference for his paper titled, “Charge Detection Mass Spectrometry (CDMS) of Microparticles.” Jardine’s paper details physical changes that were made to the dust measuring device that the research team he is a part of had developed.
Jardine explained that the dust on Mars can become a hindrance to exploration. The dust storms can be very intense, covering much of the planet and drastically dropping the surface temperature. Rovers also experience issues with the dust coating to the solar panels, causing them to shut down. Being able to measure the size and electrical charge could, with time and testing, lead to better weather forecasting on Mars and detection of oncoming storms.
The device passes a particle through alternating sensing electrodes that determine its charge based on the electric field it generates. In the middle of the setup, an electrode generates another electric field, interacting with the particle's field to either speed it up or slow it down, depending on their relative polarities. The force exerted on the particle by this field can be calculated because the particle’s charge is known from the first part of the setup and the strength of the generated field. Finally, the particle passes through a second set of sensing electrodes. The different times taken to traverse the first and second halves of the tube, due to the middle section's influence, allow the team to determine the particle's mass. By knowing the applied force and the change in speed, the team calculates momentum and thus mass using physics equations.
However, earlier prototypes of the device did not appear to have readings as accurate as the team had hoped, so Jardine and the team worked on changing the setup of the device. The dust particles they are measuring are microscopic, so the team changed the size of the tube to be narrower. This keeps the particles from bouncing around back and forth because the device needs particles to travel in a straight line for an accurate reading. There were also changes made to the top of the tube where the dust particles are introduced, so that the particles now travel straight down the funnel entrance into the tube. Jardine remarks that in the time since the changes, the readings the team has gathered have seemed to be more accurate.
The culmination of years of the team’s research, prototyping, and testing came at the iETC conference, where Hyrum Jardine presented and won the best paper award for his first research paper. Jardine enjoyed seeing all of the work that other academics had put into their research and papers, and was pleasantly surprised when his name was announced. Jardine also shared a few words of encouragement, “For people who might feel unsure of themselves, that was me the whole time up until the very moment they called my name. I think it’s easy for someone to say they can’t quite make it or discredit themselves, but my experience proves that you never know what is possible. Up until the last minute, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.”
In his spare time, Jardine enjoys finding unique challenges to tackle. “I like to look at those problems that haven’t been solved and try to find a way to solve them,” he shared. Next year, Jardine will be in Capstone, which will surely come with a slew of new problems to solve. We look forward to seeing what is possible because of projects like Hyrum Jardine’s and the Mars Dust Project’s work.