2. The electrodynamic dust shield
The dust removal technology described in this paper is based on the electric curtain concept developed by F.B. Tatom and collaborators at NASA in 1967 [3] and further developed by Masuda at the University of Tokyo in the 1970s [4–8]. This technique has been shown to lift and transport charged and uncharged particles using electrostatic and dielectrophoretic forces [9,10]. The technology has never been applied for space applications on the moon or Mars.
The Electrodynamic Dust Shield consists of a series of parallel electrodes connected to an ac source that generate a traveling wave acting as a contactless conveyor (Fig. 1).
The Electrodynamic Dust Shield has been described in detail elsewhere [11–13].
3. Dust mitigation for solar panels
Experiments at simulated Martian and lunar conditions were performed in our laboratory. The dust simulant used for the testing at Martian conditions was JSC Mars-1 simulant [14]. For the lunar experiments, we used JSC-1A and JSC-1AF, which includes only the under 70 mm fraction of the simulant. The JSC-1A simulant was sieved into different size fractions.