Lunar dust is regarded as the most crucial environmental problem on the Moon, and related research has crucially important scientific and technological interests. Here, we first reported the in situ measurements of lunar dust at the Chang'E‐3 landing site in the northern Mare Imbrium using temperature‐controlled sticky quartz crystal microbalance. The results showed that a total deposition mass at a height of 190 cm above the lunar surface during 12 lunar daytimes in the northern Mare Imbrium was about 0.0065 mg/cm2, corresponding to an annual deposition rate of ~21.4 μg/cm2, which is comparable with that of Apollo's result to some extent. The present researches are strategically important for future human and robotic lunar expeditions, and can provide a valuable reference for the design of dust protection for onboard payloads long‐term exposure to the lunar environment.

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It was suspected that the horizon glow observed over the lunar terminator was caused by electrostatically levitated dust particles, but do high concentrations of dust particles really exist over the lunar terminator? This is an important question that cannot be answered even today. In fact, no in situ investigations about the lunar dust have been conducted on lunar surface since Apollo. Here we first report in situ investigations of lunar dust at Chang'E‐3 (CE‐3) landing site using solar cell probe (SCP). The results show that, different from Apollo's observation, the short‐circuit current of SCP did not decrease sharply during the first several lunations except the first lunation, indicating the recently developed minimalist qualitative model of sunrise‐driven dust transport might not be applicable at the geologically young CE‐3 landing site. In addition, within detector's detection limit, no abrupt changes in dust concentration were observed above the sharp sunlight/shadow boundaries on lunar surface.

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