Electrodynamic dust shield efficiency characterisation under UV in vacuum for lunar application

Abstract

Dust mitigation is one of the most crucial aspects of extraterrestrial exploration. This paper presents a series of experiments on the electrodynamic dust shield (EDS) and how UV radiation affects its efficiency on selected lunar simulants (LHS-1 and LMS-1) across a range of particle sizes, quantities, and surface materials. In this experimental study, VUV is used with a 1500 V AC electric field to mobilise the dust particles resting on either glass, Kapton, or Beta cloth inside a vacuum chamber at $\sim$${10}^{-6}$ mbar. The dust removal efficiency is characterised by two quantifying methods: weighing and solar array light transmission. The experimental results show that EDS activation under continuous UV exposure on the simulant particles improves the dust removal rate by 40 to 80 percentage points across all surfaces, with the exception of certain particle size ranges on Beta cloth. The primary force facilitating particle mobilisation was identified as the repulsive electrostatic force, enhanced by ionising mechanisms such as photoemission.