A pencil to clean dust in space

As humans prepare to return to the Moon and explore other planets, a challenging enemy encountered by the Apollo missions is back in focus: dust. Fine, abrasive, and electrostatically charged dust poses risks to equipment, habitats, and astronaut health.

To solve this issue, a research team from the Romanian National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics (INFLPR) is studying how to efficiently remove different types of dust from surfaces using a pulsed electron beam.

The novelty of the idea is that the pen could work on any type of dust, without the need to pretreat affected surfaces, overcoming the limitations of current methods. The removal technique employs a collimated pulsed electron beam (e-beam) with relatively high energy (~13 keV) to effectively expel dust particles from surfaces. 

Find out more here.