In a quest to expand human settlement to the moon and beyond, NASA and industry partners are developing landing systems to take astronauts from orbit to the lunar surface with its mission Artemis. However, a small but pertinent issue of excessive dust on the surface is posing a considerable challenge for fulfilling such explorations.
To counter this, the agency is seeking ideas from university students for solutions to mitigate the issue related to dusty landings. NASA’s new Human Lander Challenge invites college students to research ways to regulate the plume effect, the process in which a cloud of dust is stirred up by lunar vehicles when rocket engines are used to provide thrust for a smooth landing on unprepared surfaces. NASA had conducted a similar program for students, through its Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing challenge in 2020 for solutions to the same issue.
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