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Notes:
Dusty plasmas have some peculiar properties. One of them is the tendency for the dust to become charged and form an electrostatically bound crystal with the plasma. Early work done at the University of Iowa, shows a crystalline form of dusty plasma, where they have even identified the crystal symmetry as body-centered cubic. Another experiment at the University of Auburn shows a cloud of amorphous dust suspended from a charged plate, much like a swarm of bees suspended from a branch. In this case, a “skin” appears to form around the dust holding it together much like surface tension on a drop of water. Both of these experiments show that collective effects of the dust + plasma can cause the dust to hold together even when acted on by a force, such as the force of gravity. So if we could suspend the dust in the mini-magnetosphere, it might remain attached and pull the spacecraft with it.