“A team of undergraduate students from ten U.S. colleges and universities – all members of NASA’s Artemis Generation – have designed a 3D printable, reusable launch and landing pad for future lunar missions.
Dubbed the Lunar Plume Alleviation Device, or Lunar PAD, the concept is designed to be 3D printed using the lunar regolith material found directly on the surface of the Moon. It focuses on remedying an unsolved problem experienced when initiating landing burns, whereby the force from an engine’s exhaust can cause loose lunar dust to kick up and stir. Its novel mandala-esque internal geometry serves to direct lunar dust outward with a laminar flow, reducing the intensity of the otherwise very turbulent dust storms caused by lunar landings…”
