Abstract
Controlling lunar dust is an important area of research that helps scientists improve space exploration. Lunar dust is a very small, sharp powder that covers the Moon’s surface and can cause serious problems, such as damaging space suits and harming astronauts' health. To solve this problem and create hardware resistant to lunar dust, scientists must first understand lunar dust behavior. The senior design team worked on evenly mixing lunar dust simulant inside a glovebox to study lunar dust behavior. Since real lunar dust is hard to get, the team used a lunar dust simulant.
A glovebox is a sealed container that allows researchers to test materials in a controlled environment. Using concept generation techniques, the team designed a physical glovebox with five fans and a funnel. The funnel safely added lunar dust simulant into the glovebox without letting lunar dust simulant escape, keeping the team safe. The team positioned the fans at specific angles and positions to create airflow that lifted and mixed the lunar dust simulant evenly. The team used a computer model to study airflow and dust movement inside the glovebox, then built the glovebox and ran two experiments. In both experiments, photos were taken during and after the experiments.
After the first experiment, the team compared the distribution of lunar dust simulant inside the glovebox to the computational model. Based on the results and comparison, adjustments were made to the physical glovebox. The team ran the second experiment and analyzed the results. The second experiment confirmed that the lunar dust simulant mixed evenly inside the glovebox. The team compared their experimental results to computer simulations and found that they matched. These findings help National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Amentum Space Exploration Group continue their research on controlling lunar dust.
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