Dynamic thermal interactions between spacesuits and lunar regolith in permanently shaded regions on the moon

Olthoff, Claas; Kaschubek, Daniel; Killian, Matthias

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.12.001

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Artemis will send the first human missions to the lunar south pole, and if water-ice interactions do indeed generate a higher concentration of fine particulate material on the lunar surface as they did for our samples, astronauts may face greater difficulties when working in the lunar regolith environment than they did during the Apollo era. Much research is currently being conducted regarding in situ resource utilization (e.g., Purrington et al 2022;Olthoff et al 2023;Slumba 2023), dust mitigation and interactions (e.g., Cao et al 2023;Hirabayashi et al 2023;Wells et al 2023), rover and tool development (e.g., Budzyn et al 2023;Long-Fox et al 2023), and astronaut health and safety (e.g., Pohlen et al 2022). However, our understanding of the particle size distribution of the lunar regolith and the processes acting to mechanically break down the regolith in the lunar polar regions and the PSRs, which greatly affects all aforementioned areas of research, is limited.…”

Section: Implications For Future Lunar Surface Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological and Spectral Characterization of Lunar Regolith Breakdown due to Water Ice

Shackelford,

Donaldson Hanna,

Horton

et al. 2024

Planet. Sci. J.

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Remote sensing observations of the Moon suggest that the lunar polar regolith environment is affected by several natural processes that may cause the regolith in these regions to become more porous and fine particulate. One of these processes may be the mechanical breakdown of regolith particles through the interaction of water ice and regolith by frost wedging. We present morphological and spectral analyses of high-fidelity lunar regolith simulants LHS-1 (lunar highlands simulant-1) and LMS-1 (lunar mare simulant-1) that have been exposed to varying concentrations of water ice (1, 10, and 30 wt%) over extended periods of time (1, 3, and 6 months) to evaluate the extent at which lunar regolith may be weathered by ice-regolith interactions in the Moon’s polar regions. To characterize changes in regolith particle morphology, we explored grain size and shape parameters with the CILAS ExpertShape suite and characterized the abundance and evolution of clinging fines with scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Reflectance spectra were taken from 1.0–22.5 μm (444.4–10,000 cm−1) to characterize any differences in spectral features that may occur as a result of regolith breakdown. Both the morphological and spectral investigations display trends that show simulant particle degradation as a function of composition, increasing water concentration, and freezing time. Our study demonstrates that the lunar regolith is susceptible to mechanical breakdown in the presence of water ice and that water ice is likely a contributor to the weathering environment within permanently shadowed regions on the lunar surface.

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Section: Implications For Future Lunar Surface Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological and Spectral Characterization of Lunar Regolith Breakdown due to Water Ice

Shackelford,

Donaldson Hanna,

Horton

et al. 2024

Planet. Sci. J.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The research and development of planetary rovers are active worldwide, and many countries and institutions are carrying out related works, such as NASA, ESA, the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and Russia (the former Soviet Union USSR). 5,[194][195][196][197][198][199][200] The current planetary rover configurations are mainly configured as wheeled and footed that are used to cope with different planetary environments and complex variable working conditions. Table S7 shows the key configuration parameters of the mainstream planetary rovers.…”

Section: The Configuration Design Of Planetary Roversmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exploring the vastness of the universe and exploiting space resources have become a significant step forward for humanity. Since entering the space age, Europe, America, and Russia have invested high budgets in space exploration, [1][2][3][4][5][6] and leaders of various countries continue to emphasize the strategic importance of space development. From the Apollo missions to the Artemis Program, and further to the Mars Rover Program, [7][8][9] National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in U.S. continues to explore the energy boundaries of the solar system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%