Appendix I: Cryogenic Solid Particle Erosion of Advanced Materials for Lunar Mission Applications

NASA is developing new generation of advanced structural materials, coatings, and adhesives (hereafter materials) for construction of spacecraft and vehicles for lunar mission applications. These materials will be subjected to the extreme temperatures that range from boiling hot to freezing cold, depending on the Moon’s position relative to the sun. In addition to fluctuating temperatures, these materials are subjected to a wear and degradation through a process known as solid particle erosion (SPE). Solid particle erosion is a dynamic wear process in which material is removed from a target surface due to impingement of high-speed solid particles. This wear process causes surface degradation and reduction in functional life of a structure/component of spacecrafts and vehicles made of these materials. Rocket nozzles during landing and takeoff, Lunar Rover Vehicles (LRVs), photovoltaic (PV) modules deployed on the Moon are subject to SPE wear under these fluctuating temperature conditions. Information and data on SPE wear of structures/components at elevated temperatures is available. However, information and data on the cold temperature SPE is almost non-existent. Our aim is to predict how structures/components made of these newly developed materials degrade when they are subjected to SPE under cryogenic temperature conditions. Therefore, both experimental and theoretical studies of material degradation due to SPE under cryogenic temperature conditions will be performed. We will design and construct experimental setup to conduct experiments of solid particle erosion (SPE) under cryogenic temperatures. In order to facilitate cryogenic temperature, the experimental setup will provide a liquid nitrogen (LN2) stream that is injected into particles jet and as well as floods and cools the target. The temperature at the surface will be regulated by regulating the LN2 flow rate. The temperature within the LN2-cooled jet at the surface of the target will be monitored. We will identify the dominant mechanism through which materials degrade due to cryogenic SPE. We will identify whether the material degradation under cryogenic SPE is due to large scale deformation, fracture, cutting, or a combination of these. This will help in the development of new cryogenic SPE wear resistant materials in the future.

The project is significant because it will generate new data and knowledge on the cryogenic SPE wear of materials used in the construction of spacecraft, vehicles, and PV modules. The data generated will be useful in ranking and selecting cryogenic SPE wear resistant materials suitable for lunar mission applications.

Appendix I: MSFC EPSCoR Research Area - Lunar Surface Sustainability Through Dust Resistance Materials

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.