23 Mar UND Space Colloquium focuses on preventing dust contamination on lunar missions
The Space Studies Spring 2019 Colloquium Series will feature several leading experts in various space related fields. Please join us for our third presentation in this series that will feature Dr. Kavya Manyapu, Flight Crew Operations & Test Engineer, CST-100 Starliner Spacecraft, Boeing Company; and Adjunct Faculty, UND Space Studies. He will present “Technologies for Preventing Dust contamination for Lunar Exploration Missions” on Monday, March 27, 5-7 p.m. in 111 Ryan Hall.
About the topic: Lunar dust proved to be troublesome during the Apollo missions. The powdery dust got into everything, abrading spacesuit fabric, clogging seals and other critical equipment. Even inside the lunar module, Apollo astronauts were exposed to this dust after they removed their dust coated spacesuits. While efforts are under way to figure out how to return astronauts to the Moon and set up habitats for long duration missions, the issue of lunar dust remains relevant. Consequently, NASA has identified dust as a critical environmental challenge to overcome for future planetary surface missions characterized by dusty environments.
The lecture provides an overview of the various types of spacesuits required for space travel. Several concepts that were successfully investigated by the international research community for preventing deposition of lunar dust on space hardware will be reviewed and novel technologies for preventing spacesuit/space habitat dust contamination for future Lunar and Martian missions will be discussed.
About the speaker: Dr. Kavya Manyapu currently works at the Boeing Company as a Flight Crew Operations and Test Engineer for the CST-100 Starliner Commercial Crew Program. She is the Spacesuit integration lead for the Starliner program. She holds a B.S in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Masters from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Sciences from University of North Dakota where she has worked on patent pending spacesuit technologies. Her research is focused on spacesuit and space habitat technologies for planetary exploration. She was the first Ph.D. student of the Space Studies department and has been recently appointed to the Adjunct Faculty staff for the department.
A simple live webcast will be available here. The Adobe Connect webcast is available here. Questions for the speaker may be posted at this site during the presentation and is best suited for enrolled students. Colloquium presentations will be added to the space.edu colloquium website after the live event for later public viewing.
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Contact:
David L. Dodds
Communications Director
University of North Dakota
701.777.5529
david.dodds@UND.edu