Farrell has been studying the effects of the solar wind on hard bodies in space for decades, including studies early in the space shuttle’s development program of the plasma wake it throws off. Like satellites, the shuttle becomes an electrically conducting instrument and is grounded by the solar plasma that flows past it.
Similarly, astronauts or robotic rovers on the Moon are not grounded by touching its surface as they might be on Earth. Farrell jokes that the Moon’s surface has the electrical conductivity of candle wax. Fortunately, the solar wind is a good conductor and ever present for satellites, and usually for strolling astronauts. But the institute’s study raises concerns about what might happen to astronauts and spacecraft should they descend into the cold depths of lunar craters whose high sides shield their bottoms from the wind.