This accumulation could be catastrophic for a 500 sol lifetime mission. DART will utilize a microscope, a dust accumulation monitor, and a sun position sensor package. The microscope will measure the amount and the properties of settled dust, and determine the rate of dust deposition, the particle size distribution, the particle opacity, the particle shapes, and possibly information about the particle composition through measurements of the optical properties. DART will also incorporate tilted solar cells and an electrostatic dust repulsion device. Instead of attempting to remove settled dust, the DART experiment will use high-voltage to attempt to repel the dust before it settles.
Thermal management is critical for efficient operation of an ISPP plant.
Heat removal radiators will be required for such operations as cooling down a sorption pump sorbent bed, and cooling oxygen and fuel before liquefaction and storage. One high and one low emmisivity plate will be protected by a movable cover and will serve as the experiment control radiators. These control radiators will experience the least degraded measurement of the effective Mars night sky temperature and will serve as comparisons for the two continuously exposed radiators in order to examine the impact of dust accumulation, wind abrasion, etc. on long-term radiator performance. The successful performance of the five individual demonstrations of MIP will provide both knowledge of and confidence in the reliability of this technology.