1.  Home
  2. Whitepapers
  3. Electrostatic dust removal from spacesuits

Electrostatic dust removal from spacesuits

Download Whitepaper

Electrostatic dust removal from spacesuits

Download Whitepaper
  • Author: STEPHANIE S BATTEN AND GAIL N ILES
Lunar dust was an unexpectedly large challenge for the Apollo missions. The dust causes problems for both people and machinery, it causes vision obscuration, clogs machine parts and spacesuit joints and causes health problems for astronauts who are exposed to it. The electrostatic and magnetic properties of the dust make it possible to create devices that utilise those same forces to repel or attract dust away from spacesuits. Spacesuit cleaning devices have been tested previously using lunar simulants, however lunar simulants are not able to fully capture the nature of lunar dust. Therefore, experiments used to test the effectiveness of lunar dust cleaning devices for spacesuits should be carried out in the lunar environment itself.

Download Whitepaper Now