In this paper, a new model is presented for calculating the thermal conductivity of soils, and the main provisions for the derivation of analytical formulas are given. The presented model allows taking into account the density, moisture content and temperature of the soil base. The technique presented in the paper makes it possible to dispense with laborious experiments to estimate the thermal conductivity of the soil. The method of analytical calculation is step by step presented in the paper. Two variants of using the method are proposed: 1) Less accurate method, for preliminary evaluation, without the need to take probe and conduct experiments. 2) More accurate method, with at least one experiment with a disturbed or undisturbed sample. The results of comparison of calculated values of thermal conductivity and experimental data are presented.

The future robotic and human lunar landing missions to the Moon has many factors which turn them into difficult technology and science tasks. One of these factors is the influence of the dust. Upper layers of the regolith are an insulator. The regolith exposed to permanent bombardment by micrometeorites and acquire a charge due to solar wind fluxes and solar UV radiation. These factors create a charge distribution on the surface of the Moon: positive on the illuminated side and negative on the night side. On the day side of the Moon near the surface layer exists possibility of formation an electric field. Charged dust particles of micron and submicron sizes can take off and levitate over the surface. The aim of the work is to get visualization of the dynamic of dust particles under a charged surface with simultaneously estimating its parameters as accurately as possible. The experimental setup based on vacuum chamber for physical modelling of dusty plasma levitation is described. For visualization of the dust particles trajectory a stereo system of two cameras with a laser as source of illumination is used. Image processing techniques for estimating the particle trajectory in three dimensional coordinates and examples of processing results are presented.

Methods for control of the shell diameter, wall thickness and wall nonuniformity and also methods for selection of shells in fluid have been developed and investigated. The methods allow us to separate shells according to the diameter with 0.25 μ;m accuracy, to the wall nonuniformity with 5–7% accuracy, to make measurements of the diameter with 0.35 μ;m accuracy and wall thickness with 3–10%.These methods allowed us to develop the automated process cycle of control and selection of shells for laser fusion targets. A model automated line has been developed and joint operation of units has been investigated. The calculated automated line throughput during the shell analysis is 50–300 shells per hour, the control and selection accuracy for the diameter, thickness, and wall nonuniformity is 1%, 3–10% and 1–3%, respectively.Thus the foundations have been laid for an automated, high-quality target production technology for power stations based on laser fusion.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Unported License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

To provide control of the whole surface the shell should be rotated. But the shell center beating within 1 μm gives thickness variations from 90 to 1200 Å. For high accuracy of measurements it is necessary to decrease the shell center beating upon rotation down to 0.1–0.2 μm. This problem can be solved using the proposed method for rotation of shells.Several units for rotation of shells have been developed and investigated. Those laws of rotation have been selected which allow to inspect the whole surface of the sell.Obvious advantages of the proposed method are the following: ease of installation and removal of the shell in the unit, automated installation of the shell in the desired position, high speed of rotation, small beating of the shell center during its rotation, wide access to the shell surface to be controlled, any required law of the shell rotation.