California-based Masten Space Systems is developing a method for protecting lunar landers from the clouds of lunar dust thrown up by their own engines on descent, a press statement reveals. The innovative approach would see landers inject alumina ceramic particles into the rocket engine plume in order to glue lunar dust together, creating a makeshift landing pad on the surface of the moon, moments before landing.
Lunar dust, or regolith, poses a surprisingly serious problem for future space missions — so much so that NASA announced an award program last year for students who could think up new innovative methods for dealing with the issue. The materials' small sharp particles can cause damage to spacecraft machinery, spacesuits, and equipment, and could even cause damage to astronauts' lungs in future space habitats.
The problem of wear from lunar regolith was an issue with Apollo-era landers, which weighed approximately 10 metric tons. Now, with NASA's upcoming Artemis moon missions, it aims to send much heavier landers to the moon, weighing approximately 20 to 60 metric tons. Masten explains that these landers will send sharp regolith particles dangerously hurtling outwards at speeds in excess of 3,000 meters per second.
The firm, which recently unveiled the design for a lunar rover that uses controlled blasts to collect lunar ice and provide water and oxygen for future moon missions, hopes that its new solution will help to mitigate the threat of this potentially silent killer. Their method, called the in-Flight Alumina Spray Technique (FAST), injects alumina ceramic particles into the lander's rocket plume as it descends towards the moon's surface.
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