NASA Offers $150,000 to Stop Astronauts Becoming “Walking High-Voltage Capacitors”

October 14 — NASA is asking for proposals to solve the problem of static electricity shocking astronauts or critical equipment during Moon missions.

The agency has launched the Lunar Grounding Challenge, aimed at keeping astronauts from becoming “walking high-voltage capacitors” on the lunar surface. The idea challenge has a total prize pool of US$150,000 (about 1.006 million yuan at current exchange rates) and a submission deadline of 15 January.

NASA plans to send astronauts to the lunar south pole on the Artemis 4 or Artemis 5 mission in 2028, which would be its first crewed Moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. But simulation studies show that both triboelectric charging — the transfer of charge between objects — and plasma charging, from gases in the local environment, cause spacesuits to build up charge. “Once you enter lunar shadow regions and permanently shadowed craters, the problem gets dramatically worse,” NASA wrote. Permanently shadowed craters are deep areas of the lunar surface that sunlight never reaches.

The root of the problem is that in such regions the number of electrons (negatively charged particles) on an astronaut’s suit far exceeds the number of ions (positively charged particles), leaving the suit charged.

NASA adds: “The risk comes when the astronaut returns to the lander.” The lander itself carries a weak positive charge, and danger arises when the strongly negatively charged astronaut comes near the vehicle.

NASA is seeking proposals from industry partners to prevent astronauts from becoming “walking high-voltage capacitors”, and several risks need to be avoided: an arc burning through the spacesuit, igniting a fire in the spacecraft’s oxygen-rich environment, or delivering an electric shock that injures someone. (According to reports, a Mars simulation mission in 2018 had to be halted because crew members ran into static problems, so this hazard is not a new discovery.)

The goal of the challenge is to design a way for astronauts and their suits to safely discharge static electricity before they touch the lander. The technical requirements include keeping mass, volume and power consumption as small as possible; working reliably across the Moon’s extreme temperature swings; and supporting up to four extravehicular activities (Moon walks) over a mission of up to 10 days.

“In addition, in this environment, levitating lunar dust and the thick layer of dust clinging to spacesuits greatly increase the arc breakdown distance,” NASA wrote in the challenge document. “Compared with a clean vacuum, a spark can jump a larger gap. The solution must therefore prevent a sudden arc from striking the outer pressure suit or the lander.”

The challenge has several stages: submitting a concept, refining it after discussions with review experts, and a final selection. NASA’s news release did not give a target date for delivering the technology for astronauts to use. But according to plans, if the project goes smoothly, a lunar base for long-term stays could be largely completed in the 2030s to support long-duration crewed missions to the Moon.