Dust Mitigation and Extreme Lunar Environment Mitigation Technologies

A number of space exploration missions to planetary bodies have noted significant deleterious effects due to extreme environments. Fine dust can foul mechanisms, alter thermal properties, obscure optical systems, abrade textiles, and scratch surfaces. Temperatures on the lunar surface vary from 35 K to 400 K, imposing extreme operational constraints on architectural elements. The goal of this focus area is to develop extreme lunar environment mitigation technologies that can be incorporated into space exploration systems. All planetary exploration missions require a proactive strategy to lessen the effects of dust, extreme temperature variations, plasma, and radiation. Specific extreme environment innovations being sought in this solicitation will be outlined in the subtopic descriptions.