There are many challenges aroundthe rejoinder of astronauts to the Moon . But there are also challenges when we actually get the astronauts there , and a big one comes from something belittled : lunar month dust . It has the body of land fiberglass , it cohere to spacesuit and craftsmanship , and you do not want to emit it in . Apollo spaceman used brush to get clean , without much success . A new newspaper suggests another method acting : swimming nitrogen .
A team tested a cryogenic nebuliser fulfil with fluent nitrogen in a vacuum , shooting a spacesuit - like cloth covered in a moon dust simulant . They found that the organisation worked to remove over 98.4 percent of the dust under vacancy condition , without damaging the cause like methods used in the past , such as brushes and vacuuming .
“ It posed a lot of problems that bear upon the delegation as well as the astronauts once they revert home , ” Ian Wells , first author of the paper from Washington State University , said in astatement .
Lunar dust can sham engines and electronics , damage suit of clothes include the seals , and gave the Apollo astronauts “ lunar hay fever . ” It damaged their lung and in the long term could cause gist standardized to what is experienced by coal miner : the so - calledblack lung disease .
“ moonshine debris is electrostatically charge up , abrasive and gets everywhere , do it a very unmanageable substance to deal with , ” explained Wells . “ You end up with a fine bed of junk as a minimum just covering everything . ”
To evaluate the effectiveness of the system , 26 samples were tested a aggregate of 233 times . One of them went through 75 cleaning cycles before any damage occurred to the material . During the Apollo mission , a single brushing was enough to damage the suits . And it ’s not like these suitsare tatty .
The tests took home both in a vacuity and under atmospheric conditions . In a vacuum , it worked much better , lift almost 96 percent of the smallest particles of dust . We ’re picturing a slight moon exhibitioner pod the astronauts would enter before getting back on table the starship .
This work won NASA’sBreakthrough , Innovative and Game - alter ( BIG ) Idea Challengelast twelvemonth and the team is looking into understanding the cognitive process well , as well as applying for President Grant to deport tests in closer to real lunar conditions .
The discipline was published inActa Astronautica .
