Patent — available for licensing
Waverider
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
Due to the lack of environmental erosion and exposure to solar wind radiation, meteorite, and micrometeorite bombardment, regolith dust on the moon is sharp and jagged like glass particles, and statically sticks to most surfaces. Regolith dust can rapidly degrade the longevity and effectiveness of equipment and tools such as spacesuits, solar panels, mechanical joints, optical lenses, and more. Artemis's ultimate goal of establishing a lasting presence on the Moon, requires equipment to last months and years of exposure, which means a solution to this dust problem poses a significant challenge to overcome to ensure long term longevity and functionality of equipment. EDS (Electrodynamic Dust Shields) technology was created to address this problem, by integrating a system that utilizes electrical pulses to remove the statically charge regolith from a variety of surfaces. WaveRider is a type of EDS technology that was developed out of this need to solve the lunar dust problem.