Constant bombardment of electrons and protons from the solar wind has charged lunar regolith negatively. The dust is attracted by electrostatic charge and attaches onto spacesuits and vision goggles, thus reducing an astronaut’s visibility, while causing respiratory irritation when unavoidably transported onto the spacecraft. In the Lunar vacuum (∼10–12 torr), the maximum charge on dust particles remains extremely high (up to several thousand volts) because the charge dissipation or discharge from the regolith is very low. There is virtually no charge dissipation mechanism existing on the Moon. To exploit this phenomenon, an electrostatic charge collector with a capacitive storage system has been successfully tested to demonstrate dust mitigation and power generation. Through this charge collection process, negatively charged lunar regolith can be neutralized so that it does not adhere to spacesuits and spacecraft. This research was conducted internally at NASA Langley Research Center to demonstrate feasibility of a prototype in a simulated lunar environment. Further work is intended to develop the device at a scale that can be integrated into a rover concept, which will help to neutralize regolith on landing pads, launch pads, walking aisles, roadways, and around airlocks.
Self-Powered Dust Mitigation on the Moon
17th Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments ; 2021 ; Virtual Conference
Earth and Space 2021 ; 791-800
2021-04-15
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Self-Powered Dust Mitigation on the Moon
TIBKAT | 2021
|Online Contents | 2010
|British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994
|ENGINEERING NOTEBOOK - Dealing with Moon dust.
Online Contents | 2006