Mitigation of Lunar Dust Adhesion by Surface Treatment

Details Mitigation of Lunar Dust Adhesion by Surface Treatment Mitigation of Lunar Dust Adhesion by Surface Treatment

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p23c1261d&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P23C-1261

Physics

[5465] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Rings And Dust, [5470] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Surface Materials And Properties, [6250] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Moon

Scientific paper

Dust has been recognized as one of the greatest hazards in continued lunar exploration. Thus, it is crucial to develop dust mitigation techniques that will minimize both the damages done to hardware and the dangers posed to humans working on the Moon. Passive mitigation techniques, which modify the surface of a material prior to dust exposure, will aid in repelling dust or reducing adhesion for easier dust removal. Our experiments use various surfaces (black Kapton (polymide), quartz, and silicon) that have been treated to have low surface energies by a Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. proprietary surface treatment technique. We use a centrifugal force detachment method to measure the total adhesive force acting between < 25 µm JSC-1 lunar simulant grains and these surfaces, both untreated and treated, in vacuum. Results indicate that the treated surfaces show significant improvement; dust is removed from treated black Kapton with about 4% of the force required for untreated black Kapton, while treated quartz and silicon show about a 50% reduction in force. Further tests will be conducted on additional surfaces, such as stainless steel and polycarbonate, and with different size fractions of JSC-1 in order to evaluate the role of dust grain size on adhesion. Because the Moon’s surface is directly exposed to solar UV radiation, we will also measure adhesion on surfaces that have previously been UV-irradiated.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Mitigation of Lunar Dust Adhesion by Surface Treatment does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Mitigation of Lunar Dust Adhesion by Surface Treatment, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Mitigation of Lunar Dust Adhesion by Surface Treatment will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1769606