Lunar Dust Level Sensor and Effects on Surfaces (LDES)

IM-3 · manifested · NASA payload

Dust sensors with a microcontroller. Each sensor is a heated, coated coupon: as dust settles on it, the heater power needed to hold its temperature shows how much the dust changes the surface's ability to shed heat. It measures dust build-up on surfaces such as radiators and solar arrays, to anchor ground tests and thermal models.

PI: Kathryn M. (Katy) Hurlbert (NASA Johnson); project manager Adrian G. Sorola
Built by: NASA Johnson Space Center, with Texas A&M University and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (supporting); cofunded by NASA's Artemis Campaign Development Division (NASA center)

Technology	dust accumulation sensor (thermal effects on surfaces)
Moon Base need	DN-019 L, #0801 (The study's reading, which follows the knowledge base's own match. NASA's Moon Base page says LDES measures how dust accumulates on spacecraft and surface systems, and lists it for IM-3. DN-019 L asks for dust flux and charge over time; LDES gives accumulation and its thermal effect, not charge. It also serves tech gap #0801 (dust-tolerant systems), which names heat rejection and solar power among the affected subsystems. The knowledge base notes that IM-3 lands at Reiner Gamma, not the South Pole. NASA's 2024 dust roadmap calls lunar dust level sensors critical.)
Route onto CLPS	other NASA; No open call. LDES is an ESDMD project (TechPort program EHP, EVA and Human Surface Mobility). NASA's Fall 2024 dust roadmap listed 'Manifest LDES on Lunar Flights' as a decision point, 2025 as a potential selection for a lunar flight, and more than one set of flight hardware. The decision itself is not public. NASA's Moon Base page lists LDES on both Griffin-1 and IM-3; it is not on NASA's CP-11 page. NASA's August 2026 update counts five NASA payloads on IM-3 without naming them.
Timeline	first funding 2022-10-01 (TechPort 154828 start); a first proposal in November 2019; first flight test not in public sources; selected not in public sources (roadmap: 'potential selection' in 2025; listed for IM-3 on NASA's Moon Base page, fetched 1 October 2026); launch no earlier than the first part of 2027 (NASA, September 2026, per Wikipedia); landing not in public sources
On the Moon	not yet flown
FO	company-level

Flights before the Moon

None found in the public sources.

Heritage hardware

• design heritage (Mars dust study test sensors): LDES grew out of an earlier JSC Mars dust study and uses its test method; its ground-test sensors (guard heater, Teflon isolator, main heater, coated coupon) are heritage from that study. It builds on NASA Glenn's 2010 lunar-simulant tests of radiator coatings (Gaier). The first proposal for a lunar dust payload dates from November 2019. No flight of these sensors is in the sources.

"This work is a legacy project from a previous Mars Dust study that used the same testing methodologies"
— NTRS 20250004744, page 2

"the test sensors used in this round of testing are heritage from the Mars Dust study"
— NTRS 20250004744, page 2

"Proposal: (TBD named) Lunar Dust Payload,” NASA Johnson Space Center, November 2019."
— NTRS 20250004744, reference 14

• sister unit: Another LDES unit is manifested on Astrolab's FLIP rover on Griffin Mission One, which targets late 2026. If Griffin-1 lands first, that unit will be LDES's first lunar flight before IM-3. Whether the two units are identical is not in public sources.

"NASA Johnson Space Center — Lunar Dust level sensor and Effects on Surfaces (LDES)."
— Astrolab Announces NASA Payloads for Upcoming Mission to the Moon – Astrolab, 18 May 2026

"plans to launch in late 2026"
— NASA Provides Updates on Moon Base Cargo Landers, Tech Demonstrations - NASAFacebook logoInstagra…, Griffin-1

Funding before the lunar flight

• ESDMD project 'Lunar Dust level Sensor and Effects on Surfaces' (TechPort 154828, program EHP, Johnson, October 2022 to December 2026), cofunded by the Artemis Campaign Development Division. TechPort gives no amount, and no SBIR or USAspending award names LDES. (ESDMD (EVA and Human Surface Mobility program); Artemis Campaign Development Division; FY2023-FY2026): amount not in public sources

"Develop and deliver dust sensors and a microcontroller to measure in-situ dust accumulation"
— TechPort project 154828, description

• Ground-test funding from other Artemis programs: the team thanks Gateway, a Blue Origin collaboration team, and the Lunar Terrain Vehicle and Pressurized Rover teams. No amounts are public. (Gateway; Blue Origin collaboration; LTV and Pressurized Rover projects; not in public sources): amount not in public sources

"the Gateway L2 team, the Blue Origin collaboration team, and the Lunar Terrain Vehicle and Pressurized Rover team for their generous funding of this work"
— NTRS 20250004744, Acknowledgments, ICES-2025-176

How it got onto CLPS

"o 2025: Potential selection for Lunar Flight."
— NTRS 20240013978, page 6, LDES row (TRL 7, 2023-24, infusion target CLPS, HLS)

"a. Manifest LDES on Lunar Flights"
— NTRS 20240013978, page 7, decision points

"2. Additional LDES Flt H/W sets"
— NTRS 20240013978, page 7, deliverables

"Trinity will deliver NASA payloads to the Moon, including:"
— Moon Base Phases - NASA, LDES on

"delivering five NASA payloads along with six commercial and one civil payload to the surface on IM-3"
— NASA Provides Updates on Moon Base Cargo Landers, Tech Demonstrations - NASAFacebook logoInstagra…, Aug 2026

On the Moon

Listed for IM-3 at Reiner Gamma. TechPort rates LDES at TRL 6 now, with TRL 8 as the project's goal.

"Lunar Dust level Sensor and Effects on Surfaces"
— TechPort project 154828, trlBegin 4, trlCurrent 6, trlEnd 8; status Active

FO's role

Grade: company-level. Same as for the Griffin-1 unit. The study's earlier traceback has no LDES entry (LDES was named after it was built). FO has not flown LDES or a dust sensor of this team. LDES's PI, Kathryn Hurlbert of Johnson, was an FO PI before: SFEM-2, a package that measured the cabin environment on suborbital vehicles, and MFEST, a two-phase flow test on parabolic flights. Same PI, different technology: company-level. NASA's 2024 dust roadmap lists LDES's lunar flights next to the 2025 Blue Origin lunar-gravity flight with seven dust experiments (an FO flight, per FO's flight summaries), in the same dust-measurement line; but LDES was not on it as far as the sources show. Dust settling depends on gravity, and no reduced-gravity test of LDES is public.

FO flights: 0. No FO investment in LDES. FO bought the SFEM-2 and MFEST flights; their cost is in FO records.

"Suborbital Flight Experiment Monitor-2 (SFEM-2)"
— TechPort project 93961, title (FO, JSC, 2017-2020)

Data: name: Kathryn M Hurlbert
— TechPort project 93961, contacts: Principal Investigator

Data: date: December 13, 2018
— FO annual report, FY2019, flights of TechPort project 93961 (report, Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo)

"Microgravity Multi-Phase Flow Experiment for Suborbital Testing (MFEST)"
— TechPort project 91346, title (FO, JSC, PI Kathryn M Hurlbert)

"C: STMD Blue Origin Lunar-G (2025): 7 Dust experiments"
— NTRS 20240013978, page 7 (dust roadmap; B is 'LDES on Lunar Flights')

"NASA’s Flight Opportunities program supported the flight testing of 17 technologies on a suborbital rocket system."
— Flight Summaries - NASA, Feb. 4, 2025, lunar gravity

Who built it

"The Lunar Dust Level Sensor and Effects on Surfaces (LDES), developed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center, will measure how lunar dust accumulates on spacecraft and surface systems."
— Moon Base Phases - NASA, under IM-3

"Kathryn M Hurlbert"
— TechPort project 154828, contacts: Principal Investigator

"Artemis Campaign Development Division"
— TechPort project 154828, otherOrganizations: Cofunding Partner

"PI: Dr. Katy Hurlbert"
— NTRS 20240014003, LDES poster, 2024

Moon Base need

"will measure how lunar dust accumulates on spacecraft and surface systems"
— Moon Base Phases - NASA, under IM-3

"Accumulation only; DN-019 L also asks for particle charge. IM-3 lands at Reiner Gamma, not the South Pole."
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: Architecture data gaps: all 25

"The absence of in-situ measurements introduces uncertainty in predicting dust accumulation"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-019 L: In situ measurement of lunar regolith (dust) particle flux and charge

"of affected subsystems include surface heat rejection, surface solar power, EVA, rovers,"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0801: Lunar Dust-Tolerant Systems and Dust Mitigation

"Development and deployment of lunar dust level sensors to gather data is critical to crew health and mission success."
— NTRS 20240013978, NASA Lunar Dust Mitigation Roadmap, Fall 2024, page 4

Open questions

• When and how was LDES selected for IM-3, and by which office? NASA's CP-11 page does not list it.
• Is the IM-3 unit the same design as the Griffin-1 unit, and will Griffin-1's results change it? Not in public sources.
• Has LDES been tested in reduced gravity (parabolic flight) or only in thermal vacuum? Not in public sources.
• LDES's cost: not in public sources.