Artificial Equilibrium Points for Electrostatic Flight in Airless Moon Environments (E-Glider Technology)

Artificial Equilibrium Points for Electrostatic Flight in Airless Moon Environments (E-Glider Technology) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Artificial Equilibrium Points for Electrostatic Flight in Airless Moon Environments (E-Glider Technology) Jesús Manuel Muñoz Tejeda, Bruno Marco Quadrelli This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8096787/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Close-proximity exploration of airless celestial bodies is challenging due to low gravity, lack of atmosphere, and uncertain surface properties. The ''E-Glider", conceived by Dr. Quadrelli, is a promising concept to overcome these obstacles and enable detailed exploration in these environments. Their working mechanism relies on charging the spacecraft to a specific potential distribution, enabling the generation of artificial equilibrium points and, consequently, facilitating electrostatic flight. This research builds upon previous work, focused on the use of E-Glider for asteroid close observation, to larger celestial bodies such as the moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa), Mars (Deimos, Phobos), and the Earth's Moon. For these purposes, a Particle-In-Cell code (E-PIC ) and a equilibrium algorithm code (E-QUIL-DER) were developed to compute the plasma properties around these objects and determine the precise voltage distribution required for an E-Glider to maintain equilibrium across its entire area, rather than at a discrete point. Our results show that smaller moons enable low-energy electrostatic flight (10 V), while larger bodies like Earth's Moon require higher potentials 103 V). This dependency arises from the E-Glider's position relative to the Moon and its size. Notably, our analysis reveals an inverse relationship between the required voltage and the E-Glider's length, with smaller spacecraft requiring lower potentials to maintain stability. This work meaningfully advances electrostatic flight technology, also outlining the key engineering challenges and its potential for future missions. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 23 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 17 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 16 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Nov, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Nov, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 19 Nov, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Nov, 2025 First submitted to journal 12 Nov, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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