Effect of Simulated Lunar Dust on the Properties of Thermal Control Surfaces

“…The first and follow-up studies of interaction of Lunar dust simulants with space materials in vacuum were published for three high-efficiency thermal control space materials, i. e. a white inorganic paint Z93 and two back-metallized Teflon FEP thermal control materials by J. Gaier and his co-workers at NASA GRC [28]. We started our studies of Lunar dust interaction and adhesion by selecting a larger representative set of external sensitive flight-proven space materials, selected from the best manufacturing companies and the world-renown main users worldwide.…”

Section: Selecting External Sensitive Space Materials For Comparative...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All such properties should be measured, for comparison, before and after testing. For comparative testing of materials, the method of calculating the thermal optical (TO) characteristics of dusted samples, based on thermal effects at cooling the dusted samples to cryogenic temperature and heating them up, was used in situ by J. Gaier [28]. However, such an approach would require complicated additional features in the design of the facility.…”

Section: Ob-1 -Chenobi Simulant Jsc-1af Simulantmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regolith adherence characterization (RAC) experiment on the Moon and it’s ground-based simulation: Materials Issues

Kleiman

Iskanderova

Krishtein³

et al. 2023

IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng.

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The interaction of Lunar dust and other environmental factors, like vacuum, temperatures, solar radiation, ultraviolet irradiation, and electron (e-) and proton (p+) irradiation with structures on the Moon and the outside of the future Gateway Lunar station may lead to permanent change or complete loss of thermal, optical, and other functionalities that could potentially lead to catastrophic failures. Among these factors, Lunar regolith dust is the most aggressive, causing the main problems. ITL recently initiated a program to evaluate, further develop, and enhance its unique cornerstone Lunar Dust Mitigation Technology (DMT) for sensitive materials on external space structures. In the framework of this program, ITL prepared a set of DMT-treated samples for inclusion in the “Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) Payload” funded by NASA and developed and built by Aegis. Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) Payload mission will determine how lunar regolith dust sticks to a range of space materials and coatings (collected from NASA, academia, and industry) exposed to the Moon’s environment at different phases of flight caused by 1) landing, and 2) during routine lander operations. To understand the results of the Lunar exposure experiment, an extensive program was initiated at ITL where a set of experiments on interaction of Lunar dust simulants with samples, similar to the RAC Payload experiments on the Moon, will be conducted in ITL’s Vacuum Lunar Dusty Environment Simulator that will be upgraded for this project. This paper will discuss mainly the material problems and their preparation for experiments. The detailed description of the Vacuum Lunar Dusty Environment Simulator and the results obtained in it will be published elsewhere in upcoming publications.

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“…has been identified by NASA as a major obstacle for the successful completion of future missions. [1][2][3][4][5][6] The lunar environment has been the greatest source of evidence to this claim where dust, with diameters ≤ 60 m, 7 comprises approximately 50% of the lunar regolith. These particulates are porous abrasive, chemically reactive, electrostatically charged, and sometimes magnetic and adhere strongly to exposed surfaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generation and Evaluation of Lunar Dust Adhesion Mitigating Materials

Wohl

Connell

Lin

et al. 2011

3rd AIAA Atmospheric Space Environments Conference

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Particulate contamination is of concern in a variety of environments. This issue is especially important in confined spaces with highly controlled atmospheres such as space exploration vehicles involved in extraterrestrial surface missions. Lunar dust was a significant challenge for the Apollo astronauts and will be of greater concern for longer duration, future missions. Passive mitigation strategies, those not requiring external energy, may decrease some of these concerns, and have been investigated in this work. A myriad of approaches to modify the surface chemistry and topography of a variety of substrates was investigated. These involved generation of novel materials, photolithographic techniques, and other template approaches. Additionally, single particle and multiple particle methods to quantitatively evaluate the particle-substrate adhesion interactions were developed.

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Effect of Simulated Lunar Dust on the Properties of Thermal Control Surfaces

Cited by 9 publications

References 1 publication

Effect of Illumination Angle on the Performance of Dusted Thermal Control Surfaces in a Simulated Lunar Environment

Effect of Illumination Angle on the Performance of Dusted Thermal Control Surfaces in a Simulated Lunar Environment

Regolith adherence characterization (RAC) experiment on the Moon and it’s ground-based simulation: Materials Issues

Generation and Evaluation of Lunar Dust Adhesion Mitigating Materials

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