Electric Fields Repel Space Dust
Dec-31-13
By running a current through thin wires of different materials, scientists have developed a way to keep hazardous space dust from infiltrating solar panels and rovers.The idea of using an electric charge to repel space dust was first proposed in 1967, but the technology was not revisited until 2003, when a team at NASA decided to incorporate the idea into Mars rovers. They discovered that running only a few milliwatts of power through thin wires will create electric fields that repelled up to 99 percent of dust in simulated lunar and Martian conditions.
Different wires worked better in different materials, with transparent indium-tin-oxide wires protecting solar panels; aluminum or silver wires repelling the dust from the reflective films on rovers and landers and copper wires working well when embedded under white, heat-reflecting thermal paint. The dust shields will be tested in space in 2016.
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