Joshua McNeill, an MS Engineering Physics student from Boone, will be travelling to NASA's Kennedy Space Center for a summer internship. When asked what he will be working on, he responded:
I am extremely excited about this prestigious opportunity at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. I toured KSC when I was a kid with my father and since then it has always been a dream of mine, however unattainable it may have seemed then, to contribute to the pursuit of space exploration and discovery. To this end, I will be working on the Lunar Electrostatic and Dust Mitigation Tool which will be used by astronauts to remove dust from suits during Extravehicular Activities (EVAs). Lunar soil, or regolith, is made up of miniscule, abrasive particles that are typically charged by solar radiation. Like pieces of Styrofoam, this charged regolith can stick to astronaut’s EVA suits and any other sensitive equipment deployed on the lunar surface. The abrasive nature of this material is physically harmful to both equipment and the health of astronauts. It is the goal of this research to mitigate, or otherwise contain, these harmful particles by utilizing tools to manipulate their movement via their electrostatic charge under high-vacuum conditions. I will be responsible for designing experimental setups under the guidance of a mentor team, data collection and acquisition using LabVIEW or other electrical systems and presenting any findings to the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory team.
Joshua McNeill
Joshua McNeill