Who knew dust was such a major problem in space?
The students at Honolulu’s ‘Iolani School and Kealakehe High School on Hawaii island know, and they’re not just sitting on their hands waiting for someone else to solve the problem.
Robotics teams from each of the schools have been invited by NASA, through the Hilo-based Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, or PISCES, to help develop a dust-removal experiment that will be sent to the surface of the moon for testing.
Once the test starts on the moon, the students — dubbed the Moon RIDERS (Research Investigating Dust Expulsion Removal Systems) — will remotely collect data to analyze the performance of a device with technology developed by NASA to deal with the pesky planetary dust.
"This is a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our kids," ‘Iolani Head of School Timothy Cottrell said at a news conference Friday. "‘Iolani chose to participate for a number of reasons, but first and foremost for our kids. This is exactly what we’re always looking for. We want real, authentic problems that our kids can tackle."
Turns out the dust found on such places as the moon, Mars and asteroids clings to space gear, undermining and interfering with the effectiveness of spacesuits, robots, camera lenses, solar arrays and more.
NASA has been working on the issue for years and has developed a way to repel and remove the dust by using a high-voltage, low-current machine called an electrodynamic dust shield. The technology has been tested extensively on Earth but has yet to be tested in space or on the surface of the moon.
That’s where the ‘Iolani and Kealakehe teams come in.
Working with mentors at NASA, the students — about 40 from each school — have already built mock-up spacecrafts outfitted with the electrodynamic dust shield, and next month they will test their creations at the PISCES planetary analogue site on Hawaii island.
The site, whose volcanic terrain mimics the surface of the moon and Mars, is the size of a football field and is on the lower slopes of Mauna Kea at the 9,000-foot level.
The experiment is scheduled to blast off to the lunar surface aboard a Google Lunar XPRIZE team spacecraft in late 2016.
Officials with PISCES, the state’s aerospace agency that develops and tests planetary surface system technologies for use on the moon and Mars, said that if everything goes well, this could be the first time a student experiment has been conducted on the lunar surface.
What’s more, the design and test data the students gather could be used in future space missions, said Rob Kelso, PISCES executive director.
During Friday’s news conference, Carlos Calle of NASA’s Swamp Works at Kennedy Space Center, the chief scientist behind the electrodynamic dust shield, described the system’s significance and operations, as well as the benefit for space exploration the students’ work will have.
State schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi said the opportunity for recognizing these students was a "chicken-skin moment."
"One of the things that this project exemplifies is that science is fascinating to students when they can do it — not necessarily when they just read it on a book. You’ve got to see it, feel it and be able to work with it, and then it comes alive. And I think that’s what this experiment does," Matayoshi said.
The superintendent added, "Kealakehe High’s students already do great work in science and technology. This takes them to a whole new level of hands-on learning and collaboration."
Student Josiah Clark, Kealakehe’s Moon RIDERS project leader, said he hoped the effort would spark a discussion about the role space exploration should play in society.
"If you care about education and workforce development, you should care about space exploration. Moon RIDERS breaks this mold of classroom learning requiring high technical skill, unrelenting perseverance and a little bit of crazy — a prerequisite for all great things," Clark said.
In a statement, state Rep. Nicole Lowen (D, Kailua-Kona-Holualoa-Honokohau) praised the Kealakehe team.
"It really reflects on the students’ hard work and achievements through the years, especially the robotics team," she said. "I — and I’m sure everyone on the Big Island — take great pride in this amazing opportunity they have earned. I can’t wait to watch the project unfold."
