Charles Buhler

Dr. Charles R. “Charlie” Buhler is best known inside NASA for painstaking, safety-critical work on electrostatics—how spacecraft materials charge, spark, and move dust in the harsh vacuum of space—and best known outside NASA for co-founding Exodus Propulsion Technologies, a small lab claiming a propellant-less thruster based on electrostatic forces. It’s a rare résumé that spans exacting flight-certification testing and a moon-shot bet on new physics.

From condensed-matter physics to spaceflight problems

Buhler earned his Ph.D. in condensed-matter physics at Florida State University in 2000, conducting research at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee. That academic grounding in materials and fields would become the through-line of his space career.

NASA Kennedy Space Center and the Electrostatics & Surface Physics Lab

Buhler has spent much of his career at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), working in—and later helping lead—NASA’s Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory (ESPL). The lab characterizes electrostatic charging, arcing, and dust behavior for flight hardware, then designs mitigation so vehicles and crews stay safe. He co-authored a long series of NASA technical memoranda on electrostatic hazards and “ESD” (electrostatic discharge) testing for Space Shuttle multilayer insulation (MLI), International Space Station blankets and shrouds, and other flight-critical materials—work that feeds directly into flight readiness and safety.

Making the Moon (and Mars) less dusty: the Electrodynamic Dust Shield

Lunar and Martian dust is clingy, abrasive, and electrostatically active; it blinds cameras, fouls radiators, and reduces solar power. Starting in the early 2000s, ESPL developed the Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS)—transparent or flexible films with patterned electrodes that use time-varying electric fields to loft and clear dust from surfaces. Buhler is a primary author on EDS progress reports (including a widely cited 2020 state-of-the-technology paper) and a named inventor on an international patent with NASA colleagues for a dust-mitigation device that underpins the EDS approach. Recent work scaled EDS using roll-to-roll fabrication for larger areas, aiming at windows, solar panels, visors, and radiators on future missions.

That lab work has matured into flight experiments. NASA lists an “Electrodynamic Dust Shield” payload manifested for a lunar lander mission, part of the broader push to validate dust-mitigation hardware in the actual lunar environment.

Safety engineering: test, verify, certify

Beyond dust, Buhler’s portfolio includes the unglamorous but essential business of proving hardware won’t spark or ignite in the wrong place at the wrong time. NASA’s electrostatics team (including Buhler) developed and applied customized tests—surface resistivity, charge decay, spark incendivity—in relevant environments (hard vacuum, pressure swings during ascent) to qualify materials and assemblies for Shuttle and ISS. This is the sort of behind-the-scenes engineering that keeps crews safe and missions on-track.

Patents and technology transfer

Buhler’s name appears on multiple patents. Two representative examples show his range:

  • Dust mitigation device and method (with NASA colleagues), covering EDS-style electrode structures and operating modes for clearing and repelling dust.

  • Electrosprayer space watering system (with Jerry J. Wang), a miniaturized electrostatic sprayer that charges droplets to guide water and nutrients to plant roots—useful for microgravity horticulture and with Earth applications via a commercial license.

Exodus Propulsion Technologies—and a bold, disputed claim

Outside NASA, Buhler co-founded Exodus Propulsion Technologies. The company claims a “propellantless” thruster that generates force from electric fields acting on engineered structures (they describe it in terms of “electrostatic pressure” and related effects), and has filed patents on the concept. Buhler has publicly argued the device is ready for on-orbit testing; coverage ranges from enthusiastic to skeptical. Importantly, this work is not affiliated with NASA, and independent validation remains outstanding—mainstream engineers note prior “reactionless drive” claims have not survived rigorous testing.

Whatever the final verdict, Buhler’s communications about Exodus have been unusually transparent for fringe propulsion: he and collaborators have posted long technical interviews, walkthroughs, and test-stand footage, and they’ve repeatedly invited third-party replication. The scientific bar, of course, is high—especially for a claim that would upend centuries of mechanics.

Recent appearances and community roles

Buhler remains active in technical meetings and community forums, presenting on lunar dust physics and participating in workshops tied to NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative and broader Artemis ecosystem. NASA and partner slide decks and conference programs in recent years list him as a KSC subject-matter expert on lunar dust charging, measurement, and mitigation tools.

Snapshot of impact

  • Discipline leadership at NASA: Long-running, safety-critical electrostatics and dust-mitigation work at KSC’s ESPL, including Shuttle/ISS materials certification and development of the Electrodynamic Dust Shield—now maturing to lunar flight tests.

  • Inventor on space-relevant hardware: From dust-clearing films to a microgravity-friendly electrostatic sprayer now licensed for terrestrial agriculture.

  • Public-facing propulsion research (non-NASA): Co-founder of Exodus Propulsion Technologies; patents and open presentations on a claimed electric-field thruster that has drawn both interest and strong skepticism pending independent tests.

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