After 40 Years, Determined Scientist Unravels the Physics of Hazardous Lunar Dust
Buzz Aldrin on the Moon with footprints in the dust. (NASA)
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Apollo Moon Program struggled with a minuscule, yet formidable enemy: sticky lunar dust. Four decades later, a new study reveals that forces compelling lunar dust to cling to surfaces — ruining scientific experiments and endangering astronauts’ health —change during the lunar day with the elevation of the sun.
The study analyzes the interactions on the Moon among electrostatic adhesive forces, the angle of incidence of the sun’s rays, and lunar gravity. It concludes that the stickiness of lunar dust on a vertical surface changes as the sun moves higher in the sky, eventually allowing the very weak lunar gravity to pull the dust off.
The study has been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union (AGU.) (more…)
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