Re: Moon Dust Threat?

Pat Flannery <flanner@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
They're quite concerned about that also.
Maybe they can use some sort of high pressure air hose to blow the
dust off the suits and recycle the air from the airlock back through
a filter and into the hose again,, until all the dust is trapped in
the filter rather than on the suits or interior of the airlock.
It would take two astronauts to do it right, but I assume just like
in skindiving they'd use a buddy system for EVAs rather than going
outside solo.

An automated astronaut wash - smallish booth, first a dust-off, then
some gentle bristled rotating brushes, and perhaps some spray-wax at
the end to keep things shiny :) When/if water gets really abundant :)
perhaps a hosing-down in there somewhere followed by an air-dry.
PA/radio plays "Carwash" while all this happens.

Sounds like fodder for another NASA challenge.

rick jones
--
Process shall set you free from the need for rational thought.
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: New Spacesuit Design?
    ... It apparently really got all over the EVA suits, particularly the bottom half of the suits. ... Any dust they kick up will fly on a ballistic course in the vacuum, and in the low lunar gravity that means that dust you kick up could travel quite some ways before recontacting the lunar surface. ... Other than the annoying affect of lugging it back into the habitat with you, and the abrasive effects on the suit's exterior, this stuff could also scratch up your transparent helmet and protective UV visor, and cause your suit's exterior to become dark enough to the point where it's getting a lot hotter in the sunlight, causing the materials it's made out of to overheat and fail, and putting a increased load on the cooling system of the suit. ...
    (sci.space.history)
  • Re: OT Mars
    ... thousands of times worse on a planet with dust. ... there is a great potential source of funding for a mars expedition. ... "cleaning" stage where dust on suits would be blown off and vented to ... and a "suiting room" between the cabin and the airlock ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: OT Mars
    ... I mean even on the ISS and shuttle some mechanical items seem t fail due to microscopic particles getting in where they do not belong, the problem will be thousands of times worse on a planet with dust. ... You might need a "cleaning" stage where dust on suits would be blown off and vented to mars atmosphere, and a "suiting room" between the cabin and the airlock where there would be no air circulating back to the habitable volume so that residual dust from suits would not flow into cabin, and any dust generated while crews get in or out of the suits would be filtered or vented to mars. ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: OT Mars
    ... the dust came from there in the first place. ... there is a great potential source of funding for a mars expedition. ... "cleaning" stage where dust on suits would be blown off and vented to ... and a "suiting room" between the cabin and the airlock ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)