Studying effects of lunar dust

“Having never worked in a lab before, my research project at ESA has so far been a great learning experience,” says Corinne Barker, ESA Graduate Trainee.

“I get to work with a fantastic team who welcome my questions and share their expertise with me. I’ve gained lots of experience working on different projects, including the Euro Material Ageing (EMA) experiment – a collection of material samples which have been exposed to the space environment on the outside of the International Space Station for a year.”

In her project, Corinne studies how lunar dust affects materials on the Moon. “Lunar dust is adhesive and abrasive – meaning it can easily stick to materials and damage them,” she explains. “It can cause visible degradation to solar panels, optical instruments, or protection materials, including astronaut suits.”

Corinne uses simulated lunar dust particles and studies how strongly they adhere to different materials by measuring the force between the dust particles and a retractable tip using an instrument inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM).