{"id":102,"date":"2026-09-16T11:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/?page_id=102"},"modified":"2026-09-16T14:53:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T13:53:39","slug":"van-de-graaff-dust-accelerator","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/research\/facilities\/hvi-spe-laboratories\/van-de-graaff-dust-accelerator\/","title":{"rendered":"Van de Graaff Dust Accelerator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Van de Graaff accelerator is used toaccelerate very small particles to hyper-velocities, in order to recreate theeffects of continual micrometeoroid dustimpacts as encountered on airlessbodies such as the Moon andEnceladus, as well as impacts onto X-ray imaging sensors and otherspacecraft components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Description<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Van de Graaff accelerator charges dust particles to ~+20 kV before injecting them into the accelerationtube, where they are exposed to an electric field of up to 2 MeV, causing the particles to accelerate tovelocities as high as 80 km\/s. The particles then enter the drift tube, where they may be filtered, to removeparticles outside the desired velocity range for a given experiment. Finally, the particles enter a targetchamber, which accommodates both the target, as well as any supporting equipment and instrumentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The small target chamber can accommodate a 15 cm diameter surface analogue or spacecraft article. Forlarger targets, such as complete spacecraft instruments, the large target chamber (1 m diameter) is used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Energy<\/td>2 MeV<\/td><\/tr>
Particle Size<\/td>1 – 5 \u03bcm<\/td><\/tr>
Particle Material<\/td>Typically, spherical iron powder<\/td><\/tr>
Particle Velocity<\/td>2 – 80 km\/s<\/td><\/tr>
Target diameter<\/td>1 – 80 cm<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Van de Graff Accelerator includes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n