12 ms·

The charge that causes the issue can also be used to fix it https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/19apr_dustbuster https://science.nasa.go

The charge that causes the issue can also be used to fix it https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/19apr_dustbuster https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/1... It would be pretty sweet to have a decent scope on the far side of the moon.

Teever 4y ago
I can't find it right now but I read a paper that said that even moderate exploration activity on the moon, let alone colonization and industrialization will kick up a moderate amount of dust that will linger for thousands of years. I don't know if this will affect moon based telescopes in a way that can't be mitigated tough.
- narag 4y ago
  Sounds very weird. Without atmosphere the dust... just falls. No dust in the wind there, because no wind. And in the surface there is already plenty of it.
  - wumms 4y ago
    Not supporting the "thousands of years" part of your parent's comment, but the moon gets hit by solar wind; "electrostatic charging caused the dust to levitate" [0]. Quote from "Moon Storms" [1]: "To everyone's surprise," says Olhoeft, "LEAM saw a large number of particles every morning, mostly coming from the east or west--rather than above or below--and mostly slower than speeds expected for lunar ejecta." What could cause this? Stubbs has an idea: "The dayside of the moon is positively charged; the nightside is negatively charged." At the interface between night and day, he explains, "electrostatically charged dust would be pushed across the terminator sideways," by horizontal electric fields. [0] "Moon Fountains" https://web.archive.org/web/20100319112529/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/30mar_moonfountains.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20100319112529/http://science.na... [1] "Moon Storms" https://web.archive.org/web/20100106144102/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07dec_moonstorms.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20100106144102/http://science.na...
    - narag 4y ago
      Wow, so I need to add a feather duster and an... electrostatic vacuum filter to my lunar excursionist kit!
pengaru 4y ago
That's a really clever solution. I wonder why they haven't deployed this on the Mars rover solar panels?
- johnwalkr 4y ago
  Mars has windstorms that eventually clear away most of the dust.
  - pengaru 4y ago
    orly? https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/mars-lander-losing-power-dust-solar-panels/story?id=84805112 https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/mars-lander-losing-power-d...
    - primax 4y ago
      After lasting over double it's original planned mission duration. Once you get that far out finding more science for a lander (not a rover) to do is hard.
      - pengaru 4y ago
        > After lasting over double it's original planned mission duration. Once you get that far out finding more science for a lander (not a rover) to do is hard. That's entirely orthogonal to whether the wind storms eventually clear dust from the panels. The linked article makes it pretty clear that the opposite is true; eventually the panels are completely obscured by dust, not cleared.
- pkaye 4y ago
  Mars rovers now use RTGs.

Teever 4y ago

I can't find it right now but I read a paper that said that even moderate exploration activity on the moon, let alone colonization and industrialization will kick up a moderate amount of dust that will linger for thousands of years. I don't know if this will affect moon based telescopes in a way that can't be mitigated tough.

narag 4y ago
Sounds very weird. Without atmosphere the dust... just falls. No dust in the wind there, because no wind. And in the surface there is already plenty of it.
- wumms 4y ago
  Not supporting the "thousands of years" part of your parent's comment, but the moon gets hit by solar wind; "electrostatic charging caused the dust to levitate" [0]. Quote from "Moon Storms" [1]: "To everyone's surprise," says Olhoeft, "LEAM saw a large number of particles every morning, mostly coming from the east or west--rather than above or below--and mostly slower than speeds expected for lunar ejecta." What could cause this? Stubbs has an idea: "The dayside of the moon is positively charged; the nightside is negatively charged." At the interface between night and day, he explains, "electrostatically charged dust would be pushed across the terminator sideways," by horizontal electric fields. [0] "Moon Fountains" https://web.archive.org/web/20100319112529/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/30mar_moonfountains.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20100319112529/http://science.na... [1] "Moon Storms" https://web.archive.org/web/20100106144102/http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07dec_moonstorms.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20100106144102/http://science.na...
  - narag 4y ago
    Wow, so I need to add a feather duster and an... electrostatic vacuum filter to my lunar excursionist kit!

pengaru 4y ago

That's a really clever solution. I wonder why they haven't deployed this on the Mars rover solar panels?

johnwalkr 4y ago
Mars has windstorms that eventually clear away most of the dust.
- pengaru 4y ago
  orly? https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/mars-lander-losing-power-dust-solar-panels/story?id=84805112 https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/mars-lander-losing-power-d...
  - primax 4y ago
    After lasting over double it's original planned mission duration. Once you get that far out finding more science for a lander (not a rover) to do is hard.
    - pengaru 4y ago
      > After lasting over double it's original planned mission duration. Once you get that far out finding more science for a lander (not a rover) to do is hard. That's entirely orthogonal to whether the wind storms eventually clear dust from the panels. The linked article makes it pretty clear that the opposite is true; eventually the panels are completely obscured by dust, not cleared.
pkaye 4y ago
Mars rovers now use RTGs.