Scattering Properties of Dust Particles in Weightlessness

AbstractPolarimetric measurements of the light scattered by irregular dust particles are essential to interpret observations of solar system dust in terms of its physical properties. We developed a iight scattering unit to retrieve polarimetric phase curves of dust samples in microgravity conditions. Preliminary results suggest that the values for the maximum polarization are higher under 1 “ g ” than under 0 “ g ” This can be compared to ground-based measurements which exhibit higher values for packed dust than for sifted dust. The unit is operational and is used to help design a related orbital experiment.