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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
Effective, safe, easily processable, durable dust mitigation technologies are strongly demanded to protect crew and valuable space resources as well as maximize their functions and efficiency. The proposed transparent piezoelectric surface acoustic wave (TP-SAW) system will provide active dust mitigation for all charged and uncharged particles to be moved off the surface of sensitive equipment such as solar panels, radiators, reflectors, optical sensors, cameras, etc. A pair of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) on a transparent piezoelectric film enables to propagate an effective surface wave to perceive and remove dust particles. The TP-SAW has orders of magnitude higher dust removal energy efficiency than the SOA electrodynamic dust shield (EDS) technology.
The proposed transparent lithium niobate (LiNbO3) or BNNT-polyimide composites possess a strong intrinsic piezoelectricity to generate SAW for effective dust removal while offering additional multifunctional properties: i) wide operation temperatures from cryogenic to elevated temperatures, ii) optical transparency, iii) self-sensing, iv) high dielectric breakdown strength, v) radiation shielding, vi) health monitoring, vii) energy harvesting, and viii) quake detection.
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