To accompany “This high-tech sweeper is designed for super-clingy moon dust”

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

1. What are some of the risks of space travel?

2. Once a spacecraft and astronauts land on the moon or some planet, what additional risks might they face?

During Reading:

1.  What is NASA’s Artemis mission about?

2.  Where does moon “dust” come from?

3.  How did NASA deal with moon dust during the Apollo space flights? How well did that technique work?

4.  How does the electron beam technology deal with static cling?

5.  What does Hiroyuki Kawamoto think is a potential downside of electron-beam brooms for space?

6.  What is a significant limit of the current version of the electron-beam broom, one that the Boulder team is looking to improve?

After Reading:

1.  How is the new technology like a vacuum cleaner for use in space? How is it unlike a vacuum?

2.  Would you like to be one of those astronauts on the Artemis mission? Explain why — or why not.