Electrostatic Separation of Lunar Regolith for Size Beneficiation Using Same-Material Tribocharging

Completed NASA Space Technology Research Grants project led by the University of Maryland, College Park that developed a low-complexity electrostatic device for sizing and separating lunar regolith through same-material tribocharging. The research modeled size-dependent charge transfer, tested pre- and post-treatment methods, and demonstrated a path to electrically neutral sorted grains for lunar ISRU, additive manufacturing, dust mitigation, and volatile extraction.