Cunhui Li

The dust detection system (DDS), a subsystem of the dust multi-properties analyzer (DMA) onboard the Tianwen-2 mission, was designed for in situ measurement of the sizes and velocities of dust particles near asteroid 311P/PanSTARRS using the laser-scattering techniques. Ground calibrations with spherical particles enable the establishment of a polynomial retrieval function, which results in a satisfactory accuracy in size detection [Appl. Opt. 64, 4851 (2025) Crossref  ].

To calibrate the measurement range and accuracy of the Dust Detection System (DDS) onboard the Tianwen-2 mission, which was developed for the in situ detection of dust particles in the vicinity of the active asteroid 311P/PanSTARRS, the optical response of a spherical particle traversing an elliptical Gaussian beam is analyzed theoretically in the framework of generalized Lorenz-Mie theory, and ground calibration experiments are carried out using spherical particles of different compositions.

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