Since the Apollo missions lunar dust has been a constant threat to operations on the surface of the moon, sticky, abrasive and electrically charged, this microscopic dust infiltrates everything, suits, lenses, solar panels and vital equipment, but now NASA may have found the solution and it looks like something out of a movie - an electric force field that literally sweeps the dust away.
The new technology is called Electrodynamic Dust Shield EDS, developed by NASA itself. The system uses small electrodes in a sequential pattern, high voltage signals in alternating current and diectrophoretic forces that create electrical waves capable of moving dust. By applying this sequence of electric fields, the IDS generates an invisible traveling wave that displaces particles from the surface, as if an invisible hand were cleaning the equipment.
The big difference of the id is that it has no moving parts, this means less risk of mechanical failure, no wear due to friction and minimal maintenance in hostile environments. It can be applied to visors, solar panels, space suits, lenses, radiators and windows, removing dust continuously or on demand.
The animations released by NASA clearly show the difference before and after the activation of the EDS, although the device itself does not have integrated AI, it can be incorporated into autonomous systems for activation, based on dust accumulation sensors, this allows future probes and lunar habitats to be able to self-clean autonomously, increasing the durability of the equipment and the safety of the missions.
In the future EDS can be scaled to protect lunar bases autonomous vehicles and entire space habitats against corrosive lunar dust, the system represents one of the most practical and impactful advances for lunar exploration, simple, with no moving parts and effective, it can transform the way humans and robots operate in the extreme environment of the Moon protecting lives and technologies from one of the most underestimated threats in space, dust.
! The truth will set us free and science is the one that is closest to the truth!
Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #science, #planet, #politics, #rights #crypto, #traveling and discovering secrets and beauties of the #universe, feel free to Follow me as these are the topics I write about the most. Have a wonderful day and stay on this great platform :) :)
EDS sure is a neat system. Hopefully they will employ it on a large scale on upcoming missions. They need some kind of 'mud room' for the astronauts suits as well but that will probably need to use air blasting of something similar.
Thanks for your contribution to the STEMsocial community. Feel free to join us on discord to get to know the rest of us!
Please consider delegating to the @stemsocial account (85% of the curation rewards are returned).
You may also include @stemsocial as a beneficiary of the rewards of this post to get a stronger support.