Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
Posted
2 Min Read

Advanced Modeling Enhances Gateway’s Lunar Dust Defense

A sample holder in a vacuum chamber spins during a lunar dust adhesion test at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Credits: NASA/Josh Litofsky

NASA’s Artemis campaign aims to return humans to the Moon, develop a sustainable presence there, and lay the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars. As the agency prepares for longer stays on and around the Moon, engineers are working diligently to understand the complex behavior of lunar dust, the sharp, jagged particles that can cling to spacesuits and jam equipment.

Lunar dust has posed a problem since astronauts first encountered it during the Apollo missions. Ahead of more frequent and intense contact with dust, NASA is developing new strategies to protect equipment as astronauts travel between the Moon and spacecraft like Gateway, humanity’s first lunar space station.

A man with short dark hair, wearing a navy-blue polo shirt and black gloves, works inside a metallic, box-shaped testing chamber with blue panels and multiple knobs, ports, and dials. He is scooping material from a small container.
Josh Litofsky, systems engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, scoops material designed to behave like lunar dust to test how it adheres to Gateway materials.
NASA/Bill Stafford

Unlike Apollo-era spacecraft that faced lunar dust exposure just once, Gateway will encounter it each time a Human Landing System spacecraft returns to the space station from the lunar South Pole region. Dust could enter Gateway’s environment, risking damage to science instruments, solar arrays, robotic systems, and other important hardware.

Josh Litofsky is the principal investigator and project manager leading a Gateway lunar dust adhesion testing campaign at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. His team tracks how the dust interacts with materials used to build Gateway.

An artist's render shows the Gateway lunar space station in near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. Credit: NASA
An artist’s rendering of the Gateway lunar space station in polar orbit around the Moon.
NASA/Alberto Bertolin

“The particles are jagged from millions of years of micrometeoroid impacts, sticky due to chemical and electrical forces, and extremely small,” Litofsky said. “Even small amounts of lunar dust can have a big impact on equipment and systems.”

Litofksy’s work seeks to validate the Gateway On-orbit Lunar Dust Modeling and Analysis Program (GOLDMAP), developed by Ronald Lee, also of Johnson Space Center. By considering factors such as the design and configuration of the space station, the materials used, and the unique conditions in lunar orbit, GOLDMAP helps predict how dust may move and settle on Gateway’s external surfaces.

A man wearing a navy-blue shirt with a NASA logo leans closely toward a container inside a metallic testing chamber. He examines a cylindrical object with beige components and exposed wiring, while wearing black gloves.
Josh Litofsky, systems engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, places a sample holder inside a vacuum chamber to test how lunar dust sticks to Gateway materials. NASA/Bill Stafford
NASA/Bill Stafford

Early GOLDMAP simulations have shown that lunar dust can form clouds around Gateway, with larger particles sticking to surfaces.

The data from these tests and simulations will help NASA safeguard Gateway, to ensure the space station’s longevity during the next era of lunar exploration.

The lessons learned managing lunar dust and other harsh conditions through Gateway and Artemis will prepare NASA and its international partners for missions deeper into the cosmos

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      4 min read
      What You Need To Know About the March 2025 Total Lunar Eclipse
      The Moon will pass into Earth’s shadow and appear to turn red on the night of March 13 or early in the morning of March 14, depending on time zone. Here’s what you need to know about the total lunar eclipse.
      The March 2025 total lunar eclipse will take place between late night on March 13 and early morning on March 14 across several time zones. In this data visualization, the Moon moves from right to left, passing through Earth’s shadow and leaving in its wake an eclipse diagram with the times (in UTC) at various stages of the eclipse. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio What is a lunar eclipse?
      A lunar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Earth, and Moon align so that the Moon passes into Earth’s shadow. In a total lunar eclipse, the entire Moon falls within the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra. When the Moon is within the umbra, it turns red-orange. Lunar eclipses are sometimes called “Blood Moons” because of this phenomenon.
      Alignment of the Moon, Earth, and Sun during a lunar eclipse (not to scale). NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio How can I observe the eclipse?
      You don’t need any special equipment to observe a lunar eclipse, although binoculars or a telescope will enhance the view. A dark environment away from bright lights makes for the best viewing conditions.
      This eclipse will be visible from Earth’s Western Hemisphere.
      Map showing where the March 13-14, 2025 lunar eclipse is visible. Contours mark the edge of the visibility region at eclipse contact times, labeled in UTC. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio What can I expect to observe?
      Milestone: What’s happening: Penumbral eclipse begins (8:57pm PDT, 11:57pm EDT, 03:57 UTC) The Moon enters the Earth’s penumbra, the outer part of the shadow. The Moon begins to dim, but the effect is quite subtle. Partial eclipse begins (10:09pm PDT, 1:09am EDT, 05:09 UTC) The Moon begins to enter Earth’s umbra and the partial eclipse begins. To the naked eye, as the Moon moves into the umbra, it looks like a bite is being taken out of the lunar disk. The part of the Moon inside the umbra will appear very dark. Totality begins (11:26pm PDT, 2:26am EDT, 06:26 UTC) The entire Moon is now in the Earth’s umbra. The Moon will turn a coppery-red. Try binoculars or a telescope for a better view. If you want to take a photo, use a camera on a tripod with exposures of at least several seconds. Totality ends (12:31am PDT, 3:31am EDT, 07:31 UTC) As the Moon exits Earth’s umbra, the red color fades. It will look as if a bite is being taken out of the opposite side of the lunar disk as before. Partial eclipse ends (1:47am PDT, 4:47am EDT, 08:47 UTC) The whole Moon is in Earth’s penumbra, but again, the dimming is subtle. Penumbral eclipse ends (3:00am PDT, 6:00am EDT, 10:00 UTC) The eclipse is over. Data visualization showing a telescopic view of the Moon as the March 2025 total lunar eclipse unfolds. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Why does the Moon turn red during a lunar eclipse?
      The same phenomenon that makes our sky blue and our sunsets red causes the Moon to turn reddish-orange during a lunar eclipse. Sunlight appears white, but it actually contains a rainbow of components—and different colors of light have different physical properties. Blue light scatters relatively easily as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. Reddish light, on the other hand, travels more directly through the air.
      When the Sun is high on a clear day, we see blue light scattered throughout the sky overhead. At sunrise and sunset, when the Sun is near the horizon, incoming sunlight travels a longer, low-angle path through Earth’s atmosphere to observers on the ground. The bluer part of the sunlight scatters away in the distance (where it’s still daytime), and only the yellow-to-red part of the spectrum reaches our eyes.
      During a lunar eclipse, the Moon appears red or orange because any sunlight that’s not blocked by our planet is filtered through a thick slice of Earth’s atmosphere on its way to the lunar surface. It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.
      During a total lunar eclipse, the Moon is reddened by sunlight filtered through Earth’s atmosphere. NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio What else can I observe on the night of the eclipse?
      Look to the western sky on the night of the eclipse for a glimpse of planets Jupiter and Mars. The Moon will be in the constellation Leo, under the lion’s hind paw, at the beginning of the eclipse; soon afterward, it will cross into the constellation Virgo. As Earth’s shadow dims the Moon’s glow, constellations may be easier to spot than usual.
      Visit our What’s Up guide for monthly skywatching tips, and find lunar observing recommendations for each day of the year in our Daily Moon Guide.

      Read more: The Moon and Eclipses

      Writers: Caela Barry, Ernie Wright, and Molly Wasser
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Feb 06, 2025 Related Terms
      Earth’s Moon Skywatching The Solar System Explore More
      5 min read NASA CubeSat Finds New Radiation Belts After May 2024 Solar Storm


      Article


      4 hours ago
      5 min read Planetary Alignments and Planet Parades


      Article


      2 days ago
      4 min read What’s Up: February 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA


      Article


      6 days ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      The Moon and Eclipses


      There are two types of eclipses: lunar and solar. During a lunar eclipse, Earth’s shadow obscures the Moon. In a…


      Solar Wind on the Moon


      As you read this, the Sun is blasting charged particles (electrons, protons, and other ions) out into the solar system.…


      Earth’s Moon


      The Moon makes Earth more livable, sets the rhythm of ocean tides, and keeps a record of our solar system’s…


      Skywatching


      View the full article
    • By NASA
      3 min read
      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
      Launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket system on Feb. 4, 2025. During the flight test, the capsule at the top detached from the booster and spun at approximately 11 rpm to simulate lunar gravity for the NASA-supported payloads inside.Blue Origin The old saying — “Practice makes perfect!” — applies to the Moon too. On Tuesday, NASA gave 17 technologies, instruments, and experiments the chance to practice being on the Moon… without actually going there. Instead, it was a flight test aboard a vehicle adapted to simulate lunar gravity for approximately two minutes.
      The test began on February 4, 2025, with the 10:00 a.m. CST launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard reusable suborbital rocket system in West Texas. With support from NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, the company, headquartered in Kent, Washington, enhanced the flight capabilities of its New Shepard capsule to replicate the Moon’s gravity — which is about one-sixth of Earth’s — during suborbital flight.
      “Commercial companies are critical to helping NASA prepare for missions to the Moon and beyond,” said Danielle McCulloch, program executive of the agency’s Flight Opportunities program. “The more similar a test environment is to a mission’s operating environment, the better. So, we provided substantial support to this flight test to expand the available vehicle capabilities, helping ensure technologies are ready for lunar exploration.”
      NASA’s Flight Opportunities program not only secured “seats” for the technologies aboard this flight — for 16 payloads inside the capsule plus one mounted externally — but also contributed to New Shepard’s upgrades to provide the environment needed to advance their readiness for the Moon and other space exploration missions.
      “An extended period of simulated lunar gravity is an important test regime for NASA,” said Greg Peters, program manager for Flight Opportunities. “It’s crucial to reducing risk for innovations that might one day go to the lunar surface.”
      One example is the LUCI (Lunar-g Combustion Investigation) payload, which seeks to understand material flammability on the Moon compared to Earth. This is an important component of astronaut safety in habitats on the Moon and could inform the design of potential combustion devices there. With support from the Moon to Mars Program Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, together with Voyager Technologies, designed LUCI to measure flame propagation directly during the Blue Origin flight.
      The rest of the NASA-supported payloads on this Blue Origin flight included seven from NASA’s Game Changing Development program that seek to mitigate the impact of lunar dust and to perform construction and excavation on the lunar surface. Three other NASA payloads tested instruments to detect subsurface water on the Moon as well as to study flow physics and phase changes in lunar gravity. Rounding out the manifest were payloads from Draper, Honeybee Robotics, Purdue University, and the University of California in Santa Barbara.
      Flight Opportunities is part of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and is managed at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.
      By Nancy Pekar, NASA’s Flight Opportunities program
      Keep Exploring Discover More …
      Space Technology Mission Directorate
      Armstrong Flight Research Center
      Flight Opportunities
      Game Changing Development
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Feb 04, 2025 EditorLoura HallContactNancy J. Pekarnancy.j.pekar@nasa.gov Related Terms
      Ames Research Center Armstrong Flight Research Center Artemis Flight Opportunities Program Game Changing Development Program Space Technology Mission Directorate View the full article
    • By NASA
      Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
      Sols 4439-4440: A Lunar New Year on Mars
      NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image, which includes the prominent wedge-shaped block in the foreground, the imaging target dubbed “Vasquez Rocks” — named after a site in Southern California that’s been a popular filming location for movies and television, including several episodes of “Star Trek.” Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on sol 4437 — Martian day 4,437 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Jan. 29, 2025, at 04:25:25 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025
      We’re planning sols 4439 and 4440 on the first day of the Lunar New Year here on Earth, and I’m the Geology/Mineralogy Science Theme Lead for today. The new year is a time for all kinds of abundance and good luck, and we are certainly lucky to be celebrating another new year on Mars with the Curiosity rover!
      The rover’s current position is on the north side of the “Texoli” butte west of the “Rustic Canyon” crater, and we are on our way southwest through the layered sulfate unit toward a possible boxwork structure that we hope to study later this year. Today’s workspace included a couple of representative bedrock blocks with contrasting textures, so we planned an APXS elemental chemistry measurement on one (“Deer Springs”) and a LIBS elemental measurement on another (“Taco Peak”).
      For imaging, there were quite a few targets in view making it possible to advance a variety of science goals. The ChemCam remote imager was used for a mosaic on “Wilkerson Butte” to observe the pattern of resistant and recessive layering. Mastcam mosaics explored some distant landforms (“Sandstone Peak,” “Wella’s Peak”) as well as fractures, block shapes and textures, and aeolian ripples closer to the rover (“Tahquitz Peak,” “Mount Islip,” “Vasquez Rocks,” “Dawson Saddle”). Our regular environmental science measurements were made as well, to track atmospheric opacity and dust activity. So our planning sols include an abundance of targets indeed.
      Fun fact: Today’s name “Vasquez Rocks” comes from a site on Earth in Southern California that has been a popular spot for science fiction filming, appearing in several episodes of “Star Trek” going back to the original series!
      Written by Lucy Lim, Participating Scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center
      Share








      Details
      Last Updated Jan 31, 2025 Related Terms
      Blogs Explore More
      4 min read Sols 4437-4438: Coordinating our Dance Moves


      Article


      2 days ago
      2 min read Sols 4434-4436: Last Call for Clouds


      Article


      3 days ago
      3 min read What ‘Perseverance’ Means on Mars and for Our NASA Family


      Article


      7 days ago
      Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
      Mars


      Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…


      All Mars Resources


      Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…


      Rover Basics


      Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…


      Mars Exploration: Science Goals


      The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

      View the full article
    • By European Space Agency
      The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space in Italy to lead European aerospace companies in building the Argonaut Lunar Descent Element, ESA’s first lunar lander.
      View the full article
    • By Space Force
      Secretary Pete Hegseth was sworn in as the 29th Secretary of Defense.

      View the full article
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...