A company founded by researchers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder to find solutions to help manage the problem of lunar dust, has won a prestigious NASA award that will allow them to take their innovative design to new heights, literally.
Space Dust Research & Technologies LLC, co-founded by LASP researchers Xu Wang and Mihaly Horanyi, has been awarded one of ten NASA TechLeap Prizes in the Space Technology Payload Challenge for their Electron Beam Dust Mitigation (EBDM) system. It was selected from a record-breaking field of more than 200 applicants to receive up to $500,000 and the opportunity to launch on a test flight next summer.
“We are thrilled by the opportunity to build a flight-ready model of the Electron Beam Dust Mitigation technology to potentially benefit future lunar missions,” said Wang.
Lunar dust presents serious challenges for space missions: gritty, abrasive dust particles can cling to surfaces, infiltrate and damage equipment, block solar panels reducing efficiency, and even threaten astronauts’ health. As lunar missions intensify with the goal of returning humans to the Moon, technologies like EBDM could be the key to mission success.
The EBDM system uses electron beams to charge dust to be repelled and removed from surfaces. In tests, it has demonstrated cleaning efficacy up to 92% for various surfaces, including spacesuits, solar panels, optical lenses, and thermal blankets, thus protecting hardware and equipment from long-term degradation.
“EBDM has the potential to extend the life of rovers, landers, habitats, and other crucial assets on the lunar surface,” said Horanyi, who is also a physics professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The goal of the TechLeap Prize, led by NASA’s Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program and the agency’s Flight Opportunities program, is to accelerate the development of technologies that address mission-critical challenges. EBDM was considered in the category of Active Dust Mitigation Technologies for Diverse Applications. Active dust mitigation is defined as mitigation measures that require human intervention or power to remove accumulated dust from surfaces or prevent it from adhering.
As part of the TechLeap award, the team will also get the opportunity to test the EBDM system in summer 2026 aboard a parabolic flight that can host the payload.
Beyond proving its technical merit, the test flight could catalyze interest from commercial space ventures, international collaborators, and other government agencies looking for dependable dust mitigation strategies.
“We’d like to thank CU’s Venture Partner Office for their great effort to help us move this technology forward for potential commercialization,” said Wang.
In August, Wang will be an invited speaker at the International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions being held at LASP, where he will discuss “Studies of Electrostatic Dust Lofting and Its Instrumentation for Lunar and Asteroid Missions.”
By Sara Pratt, Senior Communications Specialist
Founded a decade before NASA, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder is revolutionizing human understanding of the cosmos. LASP is deeply committed to inspiring and educating the next generation of space explorers. From the first exploratory rocket measurements of Earth’s upper atmosphere to trailblazing observations of every planet in the solar system, LASP continues to build on its remarkable history with a nearly $1 billion portfolio of new research and engineering programs.
