Lunar dust has been identified as a significant challenge because of its posing contamination and health risks for human explorers and noxious property to mechanisms with which it come into contact. So, our project is to mitigate the effect of lunar dust on both lunar module and spacesuit.

Moons is one of the most fascinating objects in our solar system. It is chock full of resources. It has gold silver and titanium in it. Another resource is Helium 3 which is rare on the earth. Despite having these much resources, lunar dust has been identified as a significant and present challenge in future exploration missions.

Lunar dust has the following properties:

• Interlocking property
• Electrostatic property
• Angular nature
• Broad grain size distribution
• Activated ion
• Due to lower gravity the dust always remains floating

All Apollo lunar missions experienced some degree of equipment failure due to dust, and it appears that dust accumulation on exposed material is unavoidable and difficult to reverse. The presence of lunar dust has the propensity for major adverse impacts on dynamic mechanical systems required for future lunar operations. Besides this, lunar has a health hazardous effect. Due to its toxicity, it creates allergic effect and cardiovascular problem to astronauts.

Ourproject is about how to mitigate the effect of lunar dust. We have studied theproblems formed due to lunar dust and also its composition and properties. Itis most important for this project to mitigate the adverse effect oflunar dust on astronauts and its destructive action over spacecraft. As electrostatic property and activated ion is present in the lunar dust and due to lower gravity, the dust always remains floating.We are thinking to solve this massive problem in two following stages.

1. Protection of Lunar Module

We have studied the problems formed due to lunar dust and also its composition and properties. As only the lunar module lands on the moon, it must be protected from the lunar dust. For this purpose, we can design a material which will be Aluminium coated carbon nano tube. Using this composite material, the electrostatic property of lunar dust will be mitigated as well as working as a radioactivity shield.

2. Saving human life

Due to the pulmonary toxicity of lunar dust, it creates various allergic effect, DNA damage and cardiovascular problems. For this reason, composite of aramid nanofiber and carbon nano-tube can be used which will be aluminium coated.

Comparison between existing solution and our solution

To deal with this problem, Diamond-coated carbon-fiber reinforced composite has been thought to apply for this purpose. But this is very expensive. Instead of this material, we can use aluminium coated carbon nano tube on the lunar module and carbon-aramid nano-composite as the cover of spacesuit.

We have designed a material to mitigate the adverse effect of lunar dust using cost effective materials aluminium, carbon nano tube and aramid fiber. The cost of our newly designed material will be almost two times less than the existing material, diamond coated carbon fiber.

Reason behind using CNT, Aramid and Aluminium

Carbon has a high level of chemical bonding flexibility, which lends itself to the formation of a number of stable Organic and Inorganic Molecules. Elemental carbon has a number of allotropes(variants) including diamond, graphite, and fullerenes. Though they all consist of elemental carbon, their properties vary widely. This underscores the versatility of CNTs, which are notable for their thermal, electrical, electromagnetic shielding, and mechanical property enhancements. As carbon is readily available at low cost, CNTs are popular additives to composite materials. CNTs are very small, existing at the nanometer scale

While aramid fibers have been innovative for ballistic protection because of their high energy absorption, minimal usage has been applied to continuous fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites in structural applications. One of the challenges with aramid fibers results from their processing, which yields smooth and chemically inert surfaces that limit the ability of the fibers to adhere to polymeric matrices. Here, it is shown that aramid nanofibers can adhere to the surface of macroscale aramid reinforcements to improve the strength of the composite interface and reinforce the matrix as well. aramid nanofibers may provide the robust mechanical properties that are necessary for structural applications while utilizing a cost-effective and convenient nanoscale building block.

Through the direct decomposition of an Al precursor ink, we fabricated an Al-coated conductive fiber filter for the efficient electrostatic removal of airborne particles (>99%) with a low pressure drop (~several Pascals). The effects of the electrical and structural properties of the filters were investigated in terms of collection efficiency, pressure drop, and particle deposition behavior.

The collection efficiency did not show a significant correlation with the extent of electrical conductivity, as the filter is electrostatically charged by the metallic Al layers forming electrical networks throughout the fibers. Most of the charged particles were collected via surface filtration by Coulombic interactions; consequently, the filter thickness had little effect on the collection efficiency. Based on simulations of various fiber structures, we found that surface filtration can transition to depth filtration depending on the extent of interfiber distance. Therefore, the effects of structural characteristics on collection efficiency varied depending on the degree of the fiber packing density. This study will offer valuable information pertaining to the development of a conductive metal/polymer composite air filter for an energy-efficient and high-performance electrostatic filtration system.

Future planning about this project

• We have a further plan with our project. Now we are thinking only about the lunar module and spacesuit. In future, we are planning to use more cost-effective materials & advanced development of it.
• Further study on lunar dust to know how to convert it into an advantage for human kind

Github link: https://github.com/Aditi-Sarker/Lunar-Fellow/wiki

Resources

• Taylor, L; James, J (2006). "Potential toxicity of lunar dust" . Lunar and Planetary Institute
• Al-Coated Conductive Fiber Filters for High-Efficiency Electrostatic Filtration: Effects of Electrical and Fiber Structural Properties, www.nature.com/scientificreports
• Application of a Fused Carbon Nanomaterial Filter for Lunar Dust Abatement, Phase II, https://open.nasa.gov
• The Chemical Reactivity of Lunar Dust Relevant to Human Exploration of the Moon, Author: David J. Loftus, M.D., Ph.D. NASA Ames Research Center
• Nanoporous aramid nanofibre separators for nonaqueous redox flow batteries,Siu on Tung, Sydney L. FisherNature Communications(2018)
• Non-Lubricated Diamond-Coated Bearings Reinforced by Carbon Fibers to Work in Lunar Dust, Phase II. https://open.nasa.gov
• NASA Eyes Highly Versatile Carbon-Nanotube Technology for Different Spaceflight Applications
• Aramid nanofibers for multiscale fiber reinforcement of polymer composites,
  Author: Brendan A. Patterson, ScienceDirect 2018
• www.nature.com/scientificreports