Due to the strong electrostatic adhesion, the soil at a space suit
cannot
be removed by simply brushing it off since such a mechanical act of
cleaning would lead to a high abrasion of the material. Another danger
takes place if the dust covers the visor of the helmet, for the
astronaut’s vision is obscured. This is obviously a risk for the
astronaut. Furthermore, the Apollo astronauts reported after their Moon
landings that the fine-grained, extraterrestrial dust even affected
their health. After extravehicular activities, the astronauts
unintentionally carried the adhering dust into the habitat where it
gradually spread throughout the rooms and led to respiration problems.
A similar peril is anticipated on Mars explorations.
As
an undergraduate student at the University of Innsbruck, I worked
together with my advisor, the Chrairman of the Austrian Space Forum,
Mag. Gernot Groemer on my Bachelor thesis about dust mitigation on
space suits to help solve the dust issues. Based on similar external
experiments, we propose a system for the Aouda Space Suit Simulator of
the PolAres Research Program that levitates the dust over the surface
and
makes them fall to the ground. Beyond dust rejection, the paper also
discusses the importance of a biological barrier to impede terrestrial
microbes to penetrate the space suits. The promising results of the
dust study may lead to the implementation of this system into the Aouda
Space Suit Simulator in the future."
Houston, we've had a problem. We've dust everywhere!
19. December 2009
"Who doesn’t envision to one day be walking on Mars? The troubles involved in getting and staying there should by then hopefully be greatly mitigated. One of the unsolved problems that we would currently encounter on Mars is dust. The Martian dust is highly adhesive to any surface through electrostatic processes – that is, charged micro-particles connecting to a material, such as a spacesuit. Martian dust has the potential to crucially abrade surfaces and threaten human health. Moreover, it is intensely sticky.
PolAres Schedule Update
15. June 2012: Deadline Announcement of Opportunity MARS2013 25.-27. Oct. 2012: 3rd Conference on Terrestial Mars Analogues 01 - 28. February 2013: Morocco Mars Simulation
Between 01 - 28. February 2013, the Austrian Space Forum will conduct an integrated Mars analog field simulation in the northern Sahara near Erfoud, Morocco. Directed by a Mission Support Center in Austria, a small field crew will conduct experiments preparing for future human Mars missions mainly in the fields of engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics/geology, life sciences and other.
This field mission is supported by the Ibn-Battuta-Center at the University of Marrakesh, Morocco. The Austrian Space Forum now solicitates proposals to be reviewed by a selection panel. The deadline for submissions is 15. June 2012, the announcement of the successful experiments will be released on 15. July 2012.
Detail
The analysis of Mars analogue environments on Earth is of paramount importance for the interpretation of the data from past, present and future orbital and landed missions, as well as mission planning (both robotic and human). Sedimentary environments in particular attract strong interest because they can retain the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental history of the planet and under the right conditions may harbour fossil or present life signatures.
Date: 25. - 27. October 2012
Location: Conference Centre of the Hotel Meridien N'Fis at Marrakech, Morocco Organization: European Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, International Association of Sedimentologits, Ibn Battuta Centre, IRSPS, Universite Cadi Ayyad.
Between 01 - 28. February 2013, the Austrian Space Forum will conduct an integrated Mars analog field simulation in the northern Sahara near Erfoud, Morocco. Directed by a Mission Support Center in Austria, a small field crew will conduct experiments preparing for future human Mars missions mainly in the fields of engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics/geology, life sciences and other.
