FEATURE
Where Dust Rules
Contamination and Coatings Engineering Branch to Build Dust Chamber
Although scientists and engineers can’t physically go to the Moon or Mars to study the harmful effects of the severe dust conditions there, they will get access to the next best thing.
With funding from Goddard’s Internal Research and Development program and the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD), engineers with the Center’s Contamination and Coatings Engineering Branch have teamed with Goddard’s scientists to build a one-of-a-kind chamber that will simulate the harsh environments on both extraterrestrial worlds.
“Under the Vision for Space Exploration, we’re tasked with getting instruments and mechanisms to work in these environments. We needed a facility to determine what these effects are,” said Principal Investigator Sharon Straka, explaining the genesis of the project. “That way, we can do a better job of developing viable mitigation and protection solutions.”
| Opening this Summer
Slated to open this summer, Goddard’s new Dusty Environmental Effects Particle (DEEP) Chamber to be housed in Building 4 will allow researchers to study and characterize the effects of lunar and Martian dust on spacecraft surfaces, including degradation-sensitive mechanisms, instrument surfaces, microshutters, optics, solar arrays, and thermal control and other coatings. It also will give scientists a venue for testing their theories on how dust travels and levitates, particularly on the lunar surface, she said.
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To mitigate the dust problem that proved troublesome for Apollo-era astronauts, NASA installed special bumpers on the lunar rover to keep dust from kicking up. A new dust chamber will help scientists to better understand the phenomenon.
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Though unique, Straka said DEEP capitalizes on lessons learned from an existing dust chamber used by Goddard’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument team, which is using a much smaller chamber to test valves and filters. SAM is flying on the Mars Science Laboratory, a large mobile rover that will analyze soil and rock samples using the most advanced equipment ever used on the planet’s surface. New exploration requirements, however, dictated that a much larger facility become available to test instruments and other larger components.
Larger Facility
As a consequence, Goddard’s new facility — measuring 4 feet (1.2 meters) in diameter and 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length — is significantly larger than dust facilities operated at other NASA centers. Because of its size, it will be capable of accommodating everything from instruments and large components to space suits.
Straka also said it was purposively designed to handle a diverse set of experiments both at atmospheric pressures and in a vacuum. It will come equipped with external ports to accommodate manipulators, lasers, detectors, and other non-vacuum compatible laboratory equipment. While on the inside of the cylindrical-shaped chamber, a vacuum-compatible mechanical system will suspend the dust and a variable speed fan system will circulate the atmosphere. In addition, capabilities are being built into the chamber to simulate the lunar dust-charging environment.
After its opening this summer, the chamber will add new capabilities, Straka said. Among those is a Lehigh University-designed payload translation table that will easily slide instruments and components inside the chamber. The chamber also will be available to intern students for basic research.
Contacts:
Sharon.A.Straka@nasa.gov or 301.286.9736
David.W.Hughes@nasa.gov or 301.286.4986
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