MIT scientists have designed a flying saucer which has been designed to explore the moon. The flying saucer has been designed in such a way that it will be hovering above the surface of the lunar body via the force of electrostatic repulsion. It is able to work this way as the surface of the moon lacks a protective atmosphere and its surface is directly exposed to space plasma and the sun's ultraviolet rays. This ensures its surface is positively charged to such a degree that the dust levitates up to 1 meter above the ground. It is fundamentally the same effect that causes human hair to stand up when statically charged.
This is not the first time researchers have dabbled with such an idea. Researchers have suggested leveraging this phenomenon to deploy the glider that will explore the surface of airless celestial objects like the moon. If the wings are made of positively charged material like Mylar, it has been theorised that a glider and the positively charged lunar surface can repel one another causing levitation.
As per MIT's findings, such a system will even work on small asteroids and the force of gravity on larger celestial bodies such as the moon would still pull the glider down. That's what a flying saucer-like rover is needed. This flying saucer wouldn't have a crew and it would boost the electrostatic repulsion by emitting beams of negatively charged ions outward giving the rover a positive charge.
The flying saucer takes advantage of no atmosphere on the moon
MIT says these ions will be released by nozzles on upward and downward facing miniature ion thrusters which would apply voltage to an ionic liquid drawn from a connected onboard reservoir. In fact, such thrusters are already used to manoeuver small satellites in outer space. MIT has shown this off in a proof of concept experience where a 60-gram model rover which is approximately the size of a person's hand was hung from springs above an aluminum surface within a vacuum chamber in order to simulate the low gravity airless surface of the moon.
It had an upwards facing ion thruster and four of which were facing down. "With a levitating rover, you don't have to worry about wheels or moving parts," says Prof. Paulo Lozano, who is leading the study along with graduate student Oliver Jia-Richards. "An asteroid's terrain could be totally uneven, and as long as you had a controlled mechanism to keep your rover floating, then you could go over very rough, unexplored terrain, without having to dodge the asteroid physically," added Prof. Paulo Lozano.
