Interpretation of the Apollo 14 Thermal Degradation Sample experiment

Abstract

The Thermal Degradation Sample (TDS) experiment was one of the many investigations performed on the lunar surface during Apollo 14. Remarkably, the results of this 40year old experiment were never fully interpreted, perhaps in part because the hardware vanished after its return. Mission records, high resolution photographs returned from the mission, and recent laboratory investigations have been used to glean important results from this experiment. It is most likely that the dust adhesion to the TDS was less than anticipated because of atomic-level contamination of its surfaces. These contaminants were probably removed from most equipment surfaces on the Moon by sputter cleaning by the solar wind, but the TDS experiments were not exposed to the solar wind long enough to affect the cleaning.