Dust EXperiment (DEX)

News: ISRO confirmed that the Dust Experiment (DEX), India’s first indigenous dust detector, recorded interplanetary dust particles entering Earth’s atmosphere every thousand seconds.

About Dust EXperiment (DEX)

• Dust EXperiment (DEX) is India’s first home-made instrument designed to detect high-speed interplanetary dust particles in Earth orbit.
• Developed by: It was developed by the Physical Research Laboratory under Indian Space Research Organisation.
• Aim: The main aim of DEX is to detect and measure impacts of microscopic interplanetary dust particles to understand the space environment.
• Mission: It was flown onboard the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM) of the PSLV-C58 XPoSat mission launched on January 1, 2024.
• Key technical details
  • The instrument has a weight of about three kilograms and operates at a power consumption of 4.5 watts.
  • It was placed at an altitude of around 350 km while skimming Earth’s atmosphere at a 9.5 degree inclination.
  • The detector has a wide field of view of about 140 degrees.
  • It works on the hypervelocity detection principle by recording high-speed dust impact signals.
• Major findings
  • Constant bombardment: The observations confirmed that Earth’s atmosphere faces continuous bombardment by interplanetary dust particles.
  • Dust flux: DEX measured a dust flux of up to 6.5 × 10⁻³ per square metre per second, indicating a high impact rate.
• Significance: The experiment provides critical data for monitoring space environment risks and supporting future satellite, human spaceflight, and planetary missions.