Lunar Dust Mitigation Gloves

Introduction

“That’s one small step for man , one giant leap for mankind.”

It was fifty years ago, in the midst chaos and war , that mankind achieved the most dangerous, the most amazing, and the most heroic feat in manned spaceflight. The success of Apollo 11 mission opened a new era of space exploration.

The moon is a large orbiting object around our planet that provides a beautiful bright shining light in the night sky and a relatively stable climate by moderating our planet’s wobble on its axis. As the Apollo explorations have shown, the Moon is more than just a celestial display. It has revolutionized out thinking in two ways. First , the Moon contains a unique history of planetary formation and early development, and also serves as a probe that has recorded the space environment and cosmic radiation for billions of years (Heiken et al , 2011). Opportunities were opened as the Moon was considered a gateway towards Mars and other planets for exploration and settlements.

Stepping further , the National Aeronautics and Space Administration aims to land on the moon again in the year 2024.With the advantages of data gathered from previous explorations , the challenge looms before us. Spaceflight seems like a walk in the park but it really isn’t. Space is a treacherous, dangerous, and a harsh environment that can suddenly differ in temperature in a blink of an eye. That’s why NASA aims to provide necessary equipment to provide astronauts in manned missions the most secure and habitable environment that can simulate earth conditions in the vacuums of space.

The Problem

Lunar dust may seem inconsequential and to be neglected off like our very own dust here on earth however, that’s not just the case with. The lunar regolith or the lunar soil has a layer with a powder like dust that sticks to equipment and extravehicular space suits that may cause damage to its systems and may compromise the overall mission.

Moreover, lunar dust is also more harmful than terrestrial dust when inhaled by humans. Human exposure to moon dust within the spacecraft cabin is hazardous to the astronauts’ health especially when they remove their suits. It is because lunar dust is more chemically reactive and has larger surface areas composed of jagged edges than Earth dust. The pulmonary toxicity of lunar dust is widely recognized to constitute the number one risk to the health of astronauts related to lunar dust. Inhaling such dusts may lead to a condition called acute silicoproteinosis which is fatal within several months to a few years (Loftus et al).

In exploring the lunar surface, the astronauts can never steer clear off of the lunar dust. They will be subjected to heavy exposure to lunar regolith while doing their EVAs or Extravehicular Activities and might contaminate the cabin of their spacecraft when getting in with their suits covered in lunar dust.

Hence , this project aims to help in reducing dust presence as the astronauts worked in their way both in the lunar surface and inside the spacecraft.

Lunar Dust Mitigation Electromagnetic Layer

Electromagnetic components maybe are effective in this matter but too much of this component can be harmful to electronics. Therefore we must utilize the most minimal amount we can use that is sufficient enough to efficiently mitigate lunar dust but not too much that it can disrupt the electronic hardware in both the spacecraft and the space suit.

My colleagues and I decided to apply the electromagnetic layer in the XEMUs gloves because the gloves can reach everywhere the astronaut can put and reach their hands out to.Making it the most probable and practical component to install the electromagnetic layer.

The electromagnetic layerwill be applied below the outermost layer of the glove which is ortho-fiber. Theelectromagnetic layer will be activated by a press of the button beside theindex finger to magnetize. Then the astronaut will wave and shove it to areasin the space suit and spacecraft that needed lunar dust mitigation. To protectthe ortho-fiber layer of the gloves from lunar dust penetration, the gloveswill have an outer layer made of Kevlar. The Kevlar external layer will act as a collector of lunar dust due to its strong, durable, near impenetrable capabilities.

Resources:

Heiken, Grant et al (1991). Lunar Sourcebook : A user's guide to the moon. Cambridge University Press : Houston, Texas, USA. Loftus, David J. et al. The Chemical Reactivity of Lunar Dust Relevant to Human Exploration of the Moon.

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/alsj-dustbrush.html

https://phys.org/news/2018-01-electricity-magnetism.html

http://lunarnetworks.blogspot.com/2009/08/nanotech-advances-in-lunar-dust.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/solar-radiation

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3247160

Acknowledgement:

Special thanks to our mentor. Engr. Zoida Clara L. Yamba, Faculty member/Research Associate, University of Mindanao Tagum College for her undying support and mentorship to our team and to our research efforts without any hesitation and doubts. A lot of people including her encouraged us to pursue our dreams and aspirations since day 1 and we are so very thankful about that. And that encouragement lead us to an achievement to contribute a solution to one of manned spaceflight's dilemma. And this achievement is for her, for our families,for our love ones, and for all the people who believed in us.