Dust Solution Testing Initiative (DuSTI) Executive Summary

Mitigating dust is critical for the success of all future lunar surface systems as nearly all hardware that encounters the surface of the Moon will interact with lunar dust. The Dust Solution Testing Initiative (DuSTI) project was a series of component and subsystem tests in dusty environments to test existing technologies with high potential for lunar dust mitigation. The tested technologies included coatings for softgoods, coatings for hardgoods, and pliable cleaners.

The DuSTI project included several adhesion and abrasion tests on various substrates, in addition to mechanical strength tests for candidate materials. The testing results provided data recommendations on coatings to use for adhesion and abrasion mitigation for lunar dust and increased Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) for commercial off the shelf (COTS) technologies. A NASA Technical Publication will be published in 2022 with information on the testing process, detailed results, recommendations, and future work.