Preparing for planetary surface exploration by measuring habitat dust intrusion with filter tests during an analogue Mars mission

Abstract

As humans venture deeper into space more issues related to operations will become apparent. While the perils of dust particles may not be widely recognized, it is one of the major issues astronauts will face on the surface of the Moon and Mars. Dust particles present a problem for both astronaut health and equipment as revealed during the Apollo era lunar surface missions. Dust particles cling to spacesuits and field gear, which upon ingress would begin circulating throughout the spacecraft or habitat. An astronaut's health is compromised by the dust particle's potential to embed in the lungs and cause respiratory illnesses. The extreme abrasiveness and granularity of the particles make it near impossible to completely shield a spacecraft or habitat from dust related damage. NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) collaborated with Crew 188 at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah to measure how much dust entered the habitat during a series of extravehicular activities (EVAs), or surface excursions. A NASA GRC developed multistage filter system, coined the Scroll Filter System, was tested, for its effectiveness in removing dust that entered the airlock and habitat after the EVAs. An optical particle counter measured the ambient airlock particulates five times including: before the start of operations; after the crew left for EVA; in the middle of the EVA with the settled air; before the crew entered the airlock after EVA; and finally, after the crew simulated repressurization and suit brushing off in the airlock. Data was also collected in several of the working environment locations around MDRS and outside the habitat in the wind. Data collected from this research will help establish filter equipment for life support systems and prescribed operations for astronaut transition from a planetary surface into a desired clean habitat. Measurements may aid in updating a baseline expected dust load for a surface habitat and further facilitate the mitigation of astronaut's exposure to dust particles on the surface of celestial bodies.

Planetary extravehicular activity (EVA) risk mitigation strategies for long-duration space missions

“…Abrasion can be evaluated in both two- and three-body interactions to quantify volumetric material wear and to identify which materials are best suited for the lunar and Mars environments 60 . Dust abrasiveness and granularity also have crew health implications (like respiratory illness) inside the habitat 61 . In fact, the greatest risk to the lung is a combination of altered pulmonary deposition (owing to physiological changes induced by microgravity) with planetary dust and the possibility for that dust to be highly toxic 62 .…”

Numerical Investigation on Heat-Transfer and Hydromechanical Performance inside Contaminant-Insensitive Sublimators under a Vacuum Environment for Spacecraft Applications

“…With the rapid development of the space industry, the frequency of space activities, which include deep-space exploration, extravehicular activities and so on, will be higher and higher [1][2][3][4][5]. However, a lot of waste heat is generated when spacecraft are in working status, and solving the problem of the heat dissipation of spacecraft and equipment such as lunar probes and spacesuits has accordingly become the focus of the powerful countries in space exploration [6][7][8].…”