Researching Material Properties for NASA Astronaut Protection Against
Lunar Regolith Damage and the Very Low Temperatures on the Southern Pole of the Moon for Long-term Human Habitation during the Artemis Mission

Humanities return to the moon via the Artemis mission is coming to fruition. NASA plans to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024, which will then snowball into sustainable exploration of the moon by the end of the decade with the vision of one day getting to Mars.^{1, 2} Before making the giant leap to Mars, astronauts will first have to explore the surface of the Moon to build operational confidence for conducting long-term work and supporting life away from Earth.¹ The proposed missions on the moon include Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) performed by the astronauts to collect samples of lunar soil before building and manufacturing infrastructure can be conducted for long-term habitation, as planned.^1-4However, human space exploration outside of a spacecraft is an extremely high-risk task, such that a highly engineered xEMU (Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit) suit is required.⁵ Current spacesuits are designed for extravehicular activities in low earth orbit and are the new xEMU suit design is much lighter to operate in a gravitational field, more flexible for extended mobility, and must be more mechanical and thermal resilient for Artemis mission tasks.

Apollo mission spacesuits were severely damaged and coated with lunar dust.⁶ It was determined that 80% of the particles found on Apollo spacesuits were lunar regolith soil, with an average particle diameter of 10.5 microns. ⁵ For the safety of the Artemis generation astronauts during and after EVA, spacesuit damage and contamination must be significantly mitigated; these spacesuits will need to last for long-term exploration. Alongside preventing lunar regolith damage to future spacesuits, NASA needs to engineer their spacesuits to function at low temperatures; water in the form of ice has been found in the dark regions of the craters in the south pole, which never get any sunlight, causing the temperatures to get as cold as 25 Kelvin. ^{3, 4} The spacesuit NASA utilizes for the Artemis mission must maintain its integrity under both extreme conditions.

My PhD research at the University of Delaware will address two key research questions: A) Why does lunar regolith(s) “stick” to the existing Orthofabric^TM outer TMG material and how can we efficiently reject this contaminant; B) What are the low T material properties of the polymers used in the Orthofabric^TMand can we measure them along with the low T performance of the fabric itself. In the following, I propose an aggressive, but feasible scientific research plan that will develop the scientific knowledge necessary to develop solutions to these challenges for both lunar and Martian human exploration targeting spacesuit development, primarily focusing on lunar regolith mitigation on NASA spacesuits and maintaining spacesuit capabilities at low moon temperatures during EVA. This research plan falls under many NSTGRO space technology TABS including: TA06 Human Health, Life Support, and Habitation Systems, TA07 Human Exploration Destination Systems, and TA12 Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems and Manufacturing.⁷

References

1. NASA. “NASA’s Lunar Exploration Program Overview.” 2020. Accessed October 2020. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/artemis_plan-20200921.pdf.
2. NASA. “NASA Publishes Artemis Plan to Land First Woman, Next Man on Moon in 2024.” 2020. Accessed October 2020. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-publishes-artemis-plan-to-land-first-woman-next-man-on-moon-in-2024/.
3. NASA. “Moon’s South Pole in NASA’s Landing Sites.” 2020. Accessed October 2020. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/moon-s-south-pole-in-nasa-s-landing-sites.
4. NASA. “NASA’s SOFIA Discovers Water on Sunlit Surface of Moon.” 2020. Accessed October 2020. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-sofia-discovers-water-on-sunlit-surface-of-moon/.
5. NASA. “Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU)” 201. Accessed October 2020. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/exploration-extravehicular-mobility-unit-xemu
6. Roy, C. et al. “Lunar Dust Effects on Spacesuit Systems: Insights from the Apollo Spacesuits.” 2008. Accessed October 2020. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20090015239.
7. NASA. “2015 NASA Technology Roadmaps.” 2015. Accessed October 2020 via the NSPIRES Portal.

Publications