Lunar Dust Filtration System

Project Goal: Design technology to mitigate lunar dust in astronauts’ cabin environment.

Since NASA’s first lunar landing by humans, it has tried to address the damage to technology caused by the moon’s abrasive electrostatically charged dust. This project focuses on solutions and technologies to mitigate the dust.

The filtration system design uses suction to clean the dust out of the air then pass it through an aerogel-packed bed with a series of high-efficiency particulate air filters. A pump recycles the air through the system to trap more dust particulates. The bottom of the system creates an electrostatic field that attracts the charged lunar dust particles. As the air recycles through the system, the dust that does not get trapped by the packed bed and filters is drawn to the electrostatic field at the bottom of the system.

The design is compact and can be used inside the cabin.