Near-Infrared monitoring of volatiles in frozen lunar simulants while drilling

Roush, T. L.; Colaprete, A.; Elphic, R. C.; Forgione, J.; White, Bruce; McMurray, Robert E.; Cook, Amanda; Bielawski, R.; Fritzler, E.; Thompson, Sarah; Kleinhenz, J.; Benton, Joshua; Paulson, Gale; Zacny, K.; Smith, James A.

doi:10.2514/6.2016-0228

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The NIRVSS engineering test unit (ETU) is described in detail by Roush (2016) and consists of two separate components shown in Figure 3. The spectrometer box contains two, fiber-optic fed, near-infrared spectrometers.…”

Section: Nirvssmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The bracket assembly (BA) contains connections for the fiber optic cables, an infrared illumination source (aka lamp), a drill observation camera (DOC), light emitting diodes (LEDs), and a Longwavelength Calibration Sensor (LCS) to document surface and subsurface temperature. Since Roush (2016), the NIRVSS ETU has been updated (ETU+) to include some additional components.…”

Section: Nirvssmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The NIRVSS spectrometers remain the same, covering ~1600-2400 nm, at ~ 9 nm sampling, and ~2300-3400 nm at ~12 nm sampling. On the NIRVSS BA, the lamp and DOC are unchanged from the description in Roush (2016). In VF-13, the DOC with an f/2.5 lens and operational distances from the soil surface provide a spatial resolution of about ~0.125 mm/ pixel.…”

Section: Nirvssmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Volatiles Loss from Water Bearing Regolith Simulant at Lunar Environments

Kleinhenz

Smith

Roush

et al. 2018

Earth and Space 2018

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In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) enables future planetary exploration by using local resources to acquire mission consumables. Water-bearing regolith has been identified on the moon in the permanently shadowed craters. Missions designed to retrieve these resources will require testing in relevant environments.The Planetary Surface Simulation Facility (otherwise known as "VF-13") at the NASA Glenn Research Center can create these relevant environments for ground based testing. This dirty thermal vacuum chamber is 3.6 m tall, 1.5 m in diameter, and can achieve pressures on the order of 10 -6 Torr. The internal wall of the chamber and the soil bin are separately temperature controlled using liquid nitrogen.For the past four years, the chamber has been used by NASA's Resource Prospector to characterize volatiles loss during regolith sampling operations. Observations from 43 samples suggest agitating the sample during delivery has a significant impact on the volatiles loss. Calculated mass loss rates are consistent for similar size samples. However, the variations in moisture loss do not clearly correlate with measured conditions. Continued testing will examine the impacts of the mechanical sample delivery process.

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Section: Nirvssmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nirvssmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nirvssmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Volatiles Loss from Water Bearing Regolith Simulant at Lunar Environments

Kleinhenz

Smith

Roush

et al. 2018

Earth and Space 2018

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“…For planetary reflectance spectroscopy, mineral and volatile reflectance bands are wide enough that flight-qualified passive spectrometers such as those on the Chandrayaan-1 mission [43], the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission [44,45], and the Lunar Trailblazer mission [46,47] have spectral channels widths between 10 and 20 nm. Significant reflectance precision improvement, then, is available by broadening near-and mid-infrared laser sources from the nominal ~0.1 to 1 nm linewidth to ~10 nm.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speckle Noise Reduction via Linewidth Broadening for Planetary Laser Reflectance Spectrometers

Cremons,

Clarke,

Sun

2024

Remote Sensing

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The low obliquity of the Moon leads to challenging solar illumination conditions at the poles, especially for passive reflectance measurements aimed at determining the presence and extent of surface volatiles. A nascent alternate method is to use active laser illumination sources in either a multispectral or hyperspectral design. With a laser spectral source, however, the achievable reflectance precision may be limited by speckle noise resulting from the interference effects of a coherent beam interacting with a rough surface. Here, we have experimentally tested the use of laser linewidth broadening to reduce speckle noise and, thus, increase reflectance precision. We performed a series of speckle imaging tests with near-infrared laser sources of varying coherence, compared them to both theory and speckle pattern simulations, and measured the reflectance precision using calibrated targets. By increasing the laser linewidth, we observed a reduction in speckle contrast and the corresponding increase in reflectance precision, which was 80% of the theoretical improvement. Finally, we discuss methods of laser linewidth broadening and spectral resolution requirements for planetary laser reflectance spectrometers.

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“…Comparable capabilities are currently only foreseen with the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), which will use a very similar set of instruments-a drill (TRIDENT), a mass spectrometer (MSolo), and a neutron spectrometer (NSS) (Ennico-Smith et al 2020)-to search for water at depth, and an infrared spectrometer (NRVISS) to passively investigate the surface layer (Roush et al 2021). Smaller rovers like MoonRanger will only carry a single instrument, in this case a neutron spectrometer, to detect water (Schweitzer et al 2021), and therefore have relatively limited measurement capabilities.…”

Section: Discussion and Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Distribution of Water Ice and Other Volatiles at the Lunar South Pole with LUVMI-X: A Mission Concept

et al. 2022

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The search for exploitable deposits of water and other volatiles at the Moon’s poles has intensified considerably in recent years, due to the renewed strong interest in lunar exploration. With the return of humans to the lunar surface on the horizon, the use of locally available resources to support long-term and sustainable exploration programs, encompassing both robotic and crewed elements, has moved into focus of public and private actors alike. Our current knowledge about the distribution and concentration of water and other volatiles in the lunar rocks and regolith is, however, too limited to assess the feasibility and economic viability of resource-extraction efforts. On a more fundamental level, we currently lack sufficiently detailed data to fully understand the origins of lunar water and its migration to the polar regions. In this paper, we present LUVMI-X, a mission concept intended to address the shortage of in situ data on volatiles on the Moon that results from a recently concluded design study. Its central element is a compact rover equipped with complementary instrumentation capable of investigating both the surface and shallow subsurface of illuminated and shadowed areas at the lunar south pole. We describe the rover and instrument design, the mission’s operational concept, and a preliminary landing-site analysis. We also discuss how LUVMI-X fits into the diverse landscape of lunar missions under development.

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Near-Infrared monitoring of volatiles in frozen lunar simulants while drilling

Cited by 6 publications

References 13 publications

Volatiles Loss from Water Bearing Regolith Simulant at Lunar Environments

Volatiles Loss from Water Bearing Regolith Simulant at Lunar Environments

Speckle Noise Reduction via Linewidth Broadening for Planetary Laser Reflectance Spectrometers

Assessing the Distribution of Water Ice and Other Volatiles at the Lunar South Pole with LUVMI-X: A Mission Concept

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