{"id":615600,"date":"2024-02-15T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=615600"},"modified":"2024-03-07T16:01:26","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T21:01:26","slug":"nasa-experiment-sheds-light-on-highly-charged-moon-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/kennedy\/nasa-experiment-sheds-light-on-highly-charged-moon-dust\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Experiment Sheds Light on Highly Charged Moon Dust"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-fit \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1218\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Photo of New Shepard crew capsule\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg 3552w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=300,178 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=768,457 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=1024,609 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=1536,913 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=2048,1218 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=400,238 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=600,357 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=900,535 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=1200,714 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?resize=2000,1189 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">The New Shepard crew capsule descends under parachutes during its launch Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023.<\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">Photo Credit: Blue Origin<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Researchers are studying data from a recent suborbital flight test to better understand lunar regolith, or Moon dust, and its potentially damaging effects as NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the lunar surface under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/humans-in-space\/artemis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Artemis<\/a> campaign. The experiment, developed jointly by NASA and the University of Central Florida, sheds light on how these abrasive dust grains interact with astronauts, their spacesuits, and other equipment on the Moon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/ntrs.nasa.gov\/citations\/20210011306\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Electrostatic Regolith Interaction Experiment<\/a> (ERIE) was one of 14 NASA-supported payloads launched on Dec. 19 aboard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/armstrong\/nasa-partners-continue-to-advance-space-tech-on-suborbital-flights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Blue Origin\u2019s New Shepard<\/a> uncrewed rocket from Launch Site One in West Texas. During the flight test, ERIE collected data to help researchers at the agency\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/kennedy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kennedy Space Center<\/a> in Florida study tribocharging, or friction-induced charges, in microgravity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Moon is highly charged by phenomena such as solar wind and ultraviolet light from the Sun. Under those conditions, regolith grains are attracted to lunar explorers and their equipment \u2013 think of it as similar to the static created by rubbing a balloon on a person\u2019s head. Enough regolith can cause instruments to overheat or not function as intended.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor example, if you get dust on an astronaut suit and bring it back into the habitat, that dust could unstick and fly around the cabin,\u201d said Krystal Acosta, a researcher for NASA\u2019s triboelectric sensor board component inside the ERIE payload. \u201cOne of the major problems is that there\u2019s no way to electrically ground anything on the Moon. So even a lander, rover, or really any object on the Moon will have polarity to it. There\u2019s no good solution to the dust charging problem right now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Kennedy team designed and built the triboelectric sensor board inside the ERIE payload, which reached an altitude of 351,248 feet aboard New Shepard. In the microgravity phase of this flight, dust grains simulating regolith particles brushed up against eight insulators within ERIE, creating a tribocharge. The electrometer measured the negative and positive charge of the simulated regolith as it traveled through an electric field applied during microgravity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe want to know what causes the dust to charge, how it moves around, and where it ultimately settles. The dust has rough edges that can scratch surfaces and block thermal radiators,\u201d said Jay Phillips, lead of Electrostatics Environments and Spacecraft Charging at NASA Kennedy. <\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-fit \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1536\" height=\"2048\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?w=1536\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"University of Florida and NASA physicists who worked on the ERIE payload pose with Blue Origin booster after launch Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 57% 39%; object-position: 57% 39%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg 2268w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=225,300 225w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=768,1024 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=1152,1536 1152w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=1536,2048 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=300,400 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=450,600 450w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=675,900 675w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=900,1200 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/erie-payload-group-photo.jpg?resize=1500,2000 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">University of Central Florida (UCF) and NASA physicists who worked on the ERIE payload pose with Blue Origin booster after launch Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. From left to right, Addie Dove, UCF PI for ERIE, Krystal Acosta, NASA researcher, and Jay Phillips, NASA researcher.<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The ERIE payload spent approximately three minutes in microgravity during the New Shepard capsule\u2019s suborbital flight, which lasted about 10 minutes before landing safely back on Earth in the Texas desert. A camera recorded the interactions, and Philips and his team are reviewing the data.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The results will inform applications for future missions destined for the lunar surface. For example, by using triboelectric sensors on a rover\u2019s wheels, astronauts can measure the positive and negative charges between the vehicle and regolith on the lunar surface. The end goal is to develop technologies that will help keep it from sticking to and damaging astronaut suits and electronics during missions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The flight was supported by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/stmd-flight-opportunities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Flight Opportunities<\/a> program, part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, which rapidly demonstrates space technologies with industry flight providers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers are studying data from a recent suborbital flight test to better understand lunar regolith, or Moon dust, and its potentially damaging effects as NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the lunar surface under the Artemis campaign. The experiment, developed jointly by NASA and the University of Central Florida, sheds light on how these [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":609,"featured_media":615622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"609","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":["283571"],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2862,2681,3333,13004],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[],"coauthors":[13110],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA Experiment Sheds Light on Highly Charged Moon Dust","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/kennedy\/nasa-experiment-sheds-light-on-highly-charged-moon-dust\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/kennedy\/nasa-experiment-sheds-light-on-highly-charged-moon-dust\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/ns-24-crew-capsule-landing.jpg"},"articleSection":"NASA Centers & Facilities","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elyna N. 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