Georgia Tech To Lead NASA Center On Lunar Research And Exploration

NASA has selected Georgia Tech researchers to lead a $7.5 million center to study the composition and properties of the moon's volatile, dusty atmosphere. The Center for Lunar Volatile and Environmental Research (CLEVER) is led by Thomas Orlando, Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

CLEVER is the successor to the REVEALS (Radiation Effects on Volatiles and Exploration of Asteroids and Lunar Surfaces) center and both are part of NASA's Solar System Exploration Virtual Research Institute (SSERVI) program.

RREVEALS and CLEVER envision a long-term return of humans to the moon, an important part of NASA's space exploration plan for the next decade. Volatile substances such as water, molecular oxygen, methane and hydrogen are essential to sustaining human activities on the moon. Dust is also important because space weather particles can have health effects on astronauts and pose risks to technology and equipment.

The interdisciplinary team of researchers supported by CLEVER will study how the solar wind and micrometeorites generate vapors, study how ice and dust behave in the lunar environment, develop new materials to combat potential dust particles, and develop new analysis tools to aid future crews. Artemis program mission.

"The resources and knowledge that CLEVER will generate will be useful for a sustained human presence on the moon," Orlando said. “We have the right mix of fundamental research and exploration: real, fundamental, tangible measurements; Very good theory/modeling; and Engineering: Facilitating Coordination with Georgia Tech and External Partners”.

Orlando added that CLEVER will gain a unique perspective on the challenges presented in solving operations on Earth's moon. "Atomic and molecular devices on processes over angstrom distances and femtosecond timescales can help shed light on what's happening on planetary spatial scales and geological timeframes," he says. "We can very quickly translate our knowledge into the materials, equipment and technology needed to support the Artemis astronauts."

CLEVER includes Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Florida Space Institute, University of Hawaii, Auburn University, Space Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, NASA Ames, NASA Kennedy Space Center and partners. in Italy and Germany. In addition to combining basic research and mission support, CLEVER will focus on research and professional development for students and young researchers, another important goal of the SSERVI system.

Art: Bryce Zimmerman, Georgia Institute of Technology

About the Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology or Georgia Tech is a public research university that trains leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The institution offers degrees in business administration, computer science, design, engineering, liberal arts and science. Nearly 44,000 students from 50 states and 149 countries study at the main campus in Atlanta, at locations in France and China, and in online and distance learning. As a leading technology university, Georgia Tech generates more than $1 billion annually in research for government, industry and society, making it an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast and the nation as a whole.

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