Regolith mitigation / A Space Mobility brand
We keep
regolith off.
Mechanical attachments and surface treatments that take lunar and Martian regolith off cables, machines and surfaces, and keep it off.
NASA's top-ranked FY26 shortfall is assets that operate for extended durations on the Moon. Dust wear is named in it.
NASA's second-ranked shortfall is surface mobility and logistics. Our flagship rides on it.
NASA's ninth-ranked shortfall is inspecting, maintaining and repairing assets. A lifted cable is an inspectable cable.
The year NASA anticipates its first commercial lunar terrain vehicles on the surface. LIFT is built for them.
The problem
Regolith goes everywhere.
Then it stays.
Lunar regolith is glassy, sharp and electrostatically charged. It was never softened by wind or water, so every grain keeps its edges. It abrades seals, clogs mechanisms, coats radiators and optics, and clings to anything it touches. Apollo crews fought it for days. Artemis assets will live with it for years.
Cable on the surface is cable you can inspect, move and repair. Cable under regolith is not.
Thrown.
Wheels and lander plumes throw regolith over everything nearby. Every traverse and every landing adds a layer.
Buried.
Surface power and data lines disappear under thrown regolith and drift. What you can't see you can't maintain, and what you can't lift you can't move.
Stuck.
Charged fines bond to surfaces. Brushing drives them deeper, and most active removal methods bring their own power needs and complexity.
Our approach
Mechanical first.
NASA's dust mitigation roadmap says the electrodynamic dust shield "should not be the only tool in our toolbox" and asks industry for removal methods "with low integration complexity." That is our whole design brief.
Mechanical where it matters.
Motion, mass, springs and gas do the work, so there is less to qualify, less to power and less to fail in a charged dust cloud.
Bolt on, don't design in.
Every product attaches to vehicles and assets that already exist, through interfaces that already exist.
Keep it off before you take it off.
Lift it clear. Make it shed. Then sweep what remains.
Regoloff LIFT
The cable comes up.
The regolith stays down.
A purely mechanical attachment for lunar terrain vehicles. As the rover drives along a surface power or data line, LIFT captures the cable, raises it a few inches above the regolith a couple of feet at a time, and lets it settle back clear of the drift behind it. The rover's own motion does the work.
Several cables, one pass.
LIFT raises multiple lines together and holds their spacing, so separation is maintained as a maintenance step rather than discovered as a survey finding.
A lifted cable is a visible cable.
Crews and cameras see jacket wear, kinks and connectors without digging. Relocating a line starts with being able to find it.
Built to published rover interfaces.
Top-deck or underslung mount, no power or data pass-through required. It rides on the vehicles already headed to the surface.
Basis: NASA anticipates its first commercial lunar terrain vehicles on the Moon by 2028. Surface power distribution and relocating large assets are named needs under NASA's #1 and #2 ranked FY26 shortfalls.
Regoloff SWEEP
Blow it off.
Or pull it off.
A mechanically driven blower and vacuum head for radiators, solar arrays, optics, hatches, seals and connectors. Directed flow removes loose and lightly bonded regolith; the vacuum variant captures it rather than moving it onto the next surface. Works best on surfaces treated with SHED.
Regoloff SHED
A surface regolith
can't hold on to.
A surface treatment that lowers regolith adhesion so that SWEEP, a wipe or a tap does what an electrodynamic shield does, without the electrodes. For cable jackets, radiator faces, covers and fabrics. NASA's roadmap asks industry for dust-resistant coatings validated against a standard methodology and more than one simulant. SHED is being developed to that guidance.
What NASA needs
Written into NASA's own list.
NASA's FY26 Civil Space Shortfall Prioritization ranks 32 shortfalls. Regoloff maps to four of the top ten.
Assets that operate for extended duration in the lunar environment.
Surface mobility and logistics for crew and assets.
Autonomously monitor, inspect, maintain and repair space assets.
Cooperative planetary surface activities.
Also on the 2024 list of 187 ranked shortfalls: high power, long distance energy transmission across distributed surface assets (#32), power and data transfer in dusty environments (#34), passive dust mitigation technologies for diverse applications (#47).
"There is limited availability of passive dust mitigation solutions. These are largely developed by Industry."
NASA Dust Mitigation Technology Roadmap, LSIC Fall 2024
Regoloff is pursuing NASA SBIR/STTR funding under the dust mitigation and surface mobility subtopics, and partnerships with rover and surface power providers.
Roadmap
From the bench to the first traverse.
Concept and interfaces
LIFT concept definition, rover interface study, and simulant selection for adhesion and wear testing.
Prototype and simulant bed
LIFT prototype on a simulant bed; SHED coupon testing against NASA's coating guidance; SBIR Phase I proposal.
Analog field test
LIFT on a terrestrial rover over laid cable; SWEEP prototype on treated and untreated surfaces.
Flight unit
A flight-qualified LIFT for a lunar terrain vehicle, with SHED-treated lines ready to be lifted.
Talk to us
Running cable on the Moon?
Tell us about the program. We reply within one business day.