Basic Study for a Korean Lunar Simulant (KLS-1) Development

Abstract

For the success of future missions to the Moon and other similar cosmic environments, understanding and utilization of the lunar regolith has become essential. However, due to the scarcity and unaffordability of real lunar regolith on Earth, a number of lunar regolith simulants (e.g., JSC-1; NASA) have been developed for experimental purposes. However, Korea does not have its own lunar regolith, even though the country is planning to actively pursue lunar and space missions in the 2020s. Thus, this study has been conducted to develop a Korean lunar simulant prototype via basic feasibility attempts (e.g., raw material selection, particle size and chemical composition simulation). Finally, the first prototype of Korea's own lunar simulant has been obtained, and denominated as KLS-1.

Extra-terrestrial construction processes – Advancements, opportunities and challenges

“…There are currently around thirty variations of lunar simulants as mentioned earlier, a few patents relevant to the lunar simulant developments (Hung andMcNatt 2010, Weinstein andWilson 2013), and one ISO standard (ISO 2014). Several simulantsincluding ALS-1 (Garnock and Bernold 2012), DNA-1 (Cesaretti et al 2014), and KLS-1 (Ryu et al 2015), which followed the specification of JSC-1/1A -have been developed for construction purposes. However, experimenting with potential construction materials using existing lunar simulants should not be the only option as they do not represent the full chemical/mineralogical diversity of lunar regolith.…”

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for a Solar-Powered Exploration Rover Considering the Restricted Power Requirement

“…In this research, the KLS-1 lunar simulant, which was produced using basalt from an area of Cheorwon in South Korea, was used to generate the bevameter and single wheel testbed ground. It has a particle-size distribution and chemical properties that are closer to those of real lunar regolith 14,163, than do other lunar simulants (JSC-1, FJS-1), as shown in Figure 2 [34,35]. Thus, it is a suitable material for performing and experiment based on wheel-terrain interaction for exploration rover.…”

“…Thus, it is a suitable material for performing and experiment based on wheel-terrain interaction for exploration rover. [35]: (a) Photographic and 500X-magnified SEM images of KLS-1 lunar simulant; (b) particle-size distribution of real lunar regolith 14,163 and lunar simulants JSC-1, FJS-1, and KLS-1.…”

“…where τ is the shear stress, j is the shear displacement, and K is the fitting shear modulus. Moreover, to identify the terrain characteristics associated with shear stress through the measured shear stresses τ m and measured maximum shear stress τ m, max , the Levenberg-Marquardt and the linear fit method are used to find the c, ∅, and K. The terrain characteristics associated with shear stress were taken from the experimental data in [34,35]. Figures 4 and 5, and Table 1 show the experimental results and derived values associated with shear stress.…”

Experimental Evaluation of Lunar Regolith Settlement Caused by Ice Extraction

“…Given the scarcity of lunar regolith on Earth, studies must employ simulants with similar properties to real regolith [33,34]. The Korean Lunar Simulant (KLS-1) developed in 2015 was used in this study.…”