Development of a dust mitigation technology for thermal radiators for lunar exploration

Dust buildup on thermal radiating surfaces can reduce the efficiencies at which thermal energy can be radiated away during lunar exploration missions.1−2 To mitigate this problem, prototype Electrodynamic Dust Shields (EDS) capable of removing accumulated dust and of preventing dust accumulation have been constructed and tested. The EDS, an active dust mitigation technology for lunar exploration systems, has been under development in our laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center for the last several years. The EDS uses electrostatic and dielectrophoretic forces to remove dust from opaque, transparent, rigid, and flexible surfaces. The EDS consists of an array of electrodes on a substrate that are coated with a material possessing a high dielectric constant. The EDS has been tested with JSC-1A lunar dust simulant and with Apollo 16 samples at high vacuum pressures of the order of 10−6 kPa. In this paper, we report on the development of two types of prototype dust shields for thermal radiators. For the first prototype, the EDS electrode grid was vapor-deposited on a polyimide-coated aluminum coupon. AZ-93, a space-rated thermal paint was applied as the top coating for the thermal radiator. For the second prototype, silver electrode grids were sputtered onto fluorethylene polypropylene (FEP) films that were back coated with an aluminum layer. These prototypes were tested with JSC-1A lunar dust stimulant at 10−6 kPa.