NASA is striving to figure out how to limit the dangers of dust as it prepares to return to the moon with the Artemis mission.
On Earth, dust is a nuisance, but fortunately, we can simply use a vacuum cleaner or a rag to clear dell’intruglio of dust mites, fibres, mud, pollen, and other contaminants.
The dust outside of the earth’s atmosphere is dangerous.
It is made up of pulverised rock on the moon, for example, and is damaging to everything from lunar landers to spacesuits to human lungs if inhaled.
A team from the Glenn Research Center is seeking to lessen the hazards of the dust as NASA prepares to return to the moon with the Artemis programme.
Houston, we need a vacuum cleaner
“We have learned from the Apollo missions that lunar dust can be smaller than 20 microns, ” said Sharon Miller, principal investigator at the Glenn Research Center. ” It is very fine, abrasive and sharp, like small pieces of glass, which makes it a more dangerous threat than just a nuisance .”Dust risk mitigation has been an open question for NASA since the Apollo missions . When the astronauts entered and exited the lunar module, the dust got everywhere: it blocked the mechanisms, interfered with the instruments, caused the radiators to overheat and even tore the suits.
Fifty years later, the challenges of dust are greater for long-term exploration and sustainability on the Moon, as well as for future human exploration of Mars.
Smooth the edges
Erosion smooths off dirt and dust on Earth: rough surfaces of particles are worn away, leaving them rounded and relatively easy to handle, similar to water flowing over stones or a constant breeze blowing across a field.
“On the moon, there is no erosion,” Erica Montbach, project manager at the Glenn Research Center, stated.
“ This is one of the things that surprised me. When I started, I thought, ‘What’s the problem? We have a lot to do with dust on Earth, ‘but the situation is different on the Moon because there is no erosion, so those individual particles end up being very sharp and angular. This causes a lot of damage in ways we don’t see on Earth ”.
Moon dust, unlike Earth dust, is not compact. Any movement on the surface has the potential to lift a significant amount of material. Moon dust can also appear and behave differently depending on where it comes from. Here on Earth, there is static electricity.
What are the solutions to the moon dust challenge?
For NASA to conduct extensive human and robotic exploration of the Moon or Mars, the agency needs a better understanding of how to mitigate the ubiquitous and complex dust problem.
In 2019, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate established the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) to coordinate inter-agency teams and spur the creation of new technologies needed for exploration of the lunar surface. Dust management is one of the key areas LSII faces, looking at active and passive mitigation technologies for different exploration systems, such as rovers, power systems, spacesuits and other surface hardware exposed to dust.
The Agency is looking for partners in industry, academia and other organizations to help identify ways to manage moon dust.
” We are looking to collaborate with others outside of NASA, ” Montbach said. ” We believe that in the future there will be an opening of commercial spaces and we want to work with the best minds “.
Starting in 2023, dust mitigation technology that is now in development will be tested on the lunar surface. NASA could employ this technology in Artemis missions and future Mars missions once the best solutions have been studied and identified.
“Studying the Moon and, finally, Mars – concluded Miller – will give us more information on our planet and on the formation of the Solar System. When we understand our planet better, we will have better ideas on how to protect it for the future “.
Last Say,
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