Investigation of adhesion characteristics of JSC Mars 1 regolith on polymer-phosphor composites

Dust adhesion to surfaces such as spacesuits, solar panels, and other mission critical instruments has been a major challenge since the Apollo mission and is an area that still needs further investigation. It is considered a major obstacle to lunar and Mars exploratory operations and will hinder long term missions, manned or unmanned, if not addressed effectively. Dust accumulation and subsequent adhesion can occur in various forms dictated by interactions that are unique to the regolith and the surface of interest interface, as well as the environment it is occurring within. These interactions, however, seem to be dominated by magnetic and electrostatic forces and have led to a variety of mitigation techniques that have demonstrated different levels of effectiveness. Here we report on our recent work focused on developing a passive form of dust mitigation technique involving polymer-phosphor composites and the effect of the phosphor concentration on regolith accumulation, specifically, JSC Mars 1. Results indicate a strong particle size dependency and show great promise as a dust mitigation technique that can be applied to a variety of surfaces.