Using Wind Dispersion Effects During the InSight Tether Burial Activities to Better Constrain the Regolith Grain Size Distribution

Verdier, Nicolas; Ansan, V.; Delage, Pierre; Ali, Khaled; Beucler, É.; Charalambous, Constantinos; Constant, Eddy; Spiga, Aymeric; Golombek, M. P.; Marteau, E.; Lapeyre, Rémi; Gaudin, E.; Yana, Charles; Hurst, Kenneth; Lognonné, Philippe; Banerdt, B.

doi:10.1029/2022je007707

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 96 publications

(173 reference statements)

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“…The InSight mission provided much information on the mechanical properties of the surface (Delage, Marteau, et al., 2022; Delage, Castillo‐Betancourt, et al., 2022; Marteau et al., 2021, 2022, 2023; Morgan et al., 2018; Spohn, Hudson, Marteau, et al., 2022; Spohn, Hudson, Witte, et al., 2022; Verdier et al., 2023). A significant input in this regard was gained by using the Instrument Deployment Arm (IDA).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave Velocities and Poisson Ratio in a Loose Sandy Martian Regolith Simulant Under Low Stresses: 1. Laboratory Investigation

Betancourt,

Delage,

Caicedo

et al. 2023

JGR Planets

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Wave velocity measurements were performed on Fontainebleau sand samples used as a Martian regolith simulant to investigate the elastic properties of the surface material at the InSight landing site on Mars (Elysium Planitia). Loose samples (density 1.4 Mg/m3, density index 6%) were prepared by using the pluviation method to mimic the low regolith density at the InSight landing site. A novel device derived from triaxial testing was designed to measure wave velocities at low stresses along a horizontal cylindrical specimen. Four tests were made, in which the confining stress was applied by applying a vacuum between 1 and 80 kPa. Wave velocities were measured by using bender elements under stresses as low as 1.75 kPa, a very low value compared to the standard stress ranges generally considered in terrestrial geotechnics (>10 kPa). The changes in compression and shear wave velocities obey a standard power law, with two slightly different exponents for Vp and Vs, indicating a not perfectly elastic behavior. Data showed greater variability below 5 kPa, indicating some limitations of the bender element technique in this range. A slight decrease in Poisson ratio was detected below 5 kPa, which certainly deserves more investigation. This investigation is useful to better analyze the data of the InSight mission, both in terms of wave propagation at the surface and to interpret some in situ elastic tests carried out with the scoop. These data are interpreted in the light of a granular contact mechanics theory in a companion paper.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave Velocities and Poisson Ratio in a Loose Sandy Martian Regolith Simulant Under Low Stresses: 1. Laboratory Investigation

Betancourt,

Delage,

Caicedo

et al. 2023

JGR Planets

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Results from InSight Robotic Arm Activities

et al. 2023

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The InSight lander carried an Instrument Deployment System (IDS) that included an Instrument Deployment Arm (IDA), scoop, five finger “claw” grapple, forearm-mounted Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC) requiring arm motion to image a target, and lander-mounted Instrument Context Camera (ICC), designed to image the workspace, and to place the instruments onto the surface. As originally proposed, the IDS included a previously built arm and flight spare black and white cameras and had no science objectives or requirements, or expectation to be used after instrument deployment (90 sols). During project development the detectors were upgraded to color, and it was recognized that the arm could be used to carry out a wide variety of activities that would enable both geology and physical properties investigations. During surface operations for two martian years, the IDA was used during major campaigns to image the surface around the lander, to deploy the instruments, to assist the mole in penetrating beneath the surface, to bury a portion of the seismometer tether, to clean dust from the solar arrays to increase power, and to conduct a surface geology investigation including soil mechanics and physical properties experiments. No other surface mission has engaged in such a sustained and varied campaign of arm and scoop activities directed at such a diverse suite of objectives. Images close to the surface and continuous meteorology measurements provided important constraints on the threshold friction wind speed needed to initiate aeolian saltation and surface creep. The IDA was used extensively for almost 22 months to assist the mole in penetrating into the subsurface. Soil was scraped into piles and dumped onto the seismometer tether six times in an attempt to bury the tether and $\sim30\%$ ∼ 30 % was entrained in the wind and dispersed downwind 1-2 m, darkening the surface. Seven solar array cleaning experiments were conducted by dumping scoops of soil from 35 cm above the lander deck during periods of high wind that dispersed the sand onto the panels that kicked dust off of the panels into suspension in the atmosphere, thereby increasing the power by ∼15% during this period. Final IDA activities included an indentation experiment that used the IDA scoop to push on the ground to measure the plastic deformation of the soil that complemented soil mechanics measurements from scoop interactions with the surface, and two experiments in which SEIS measured the tilt from the arm pressing on the ground to derive near surface elastic properties.

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Particle-size control on the structure and collapsibility of sediments formed by air-fall deposition

Xu,

Nong,

Dong

et al. 2024

CATENA

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Using Wind Dispersion Effects During the InSight Tether Burial Activities to Better Constrain the Regolith Grain Size Distribution

Cited by 3 publications

References 96 publications

Wave Velocities and Poisson Ratio in a Loose Sandy Martian Regolith Simulant Under Low Stresses: 1. Laboratory Investigation

Wave Velocities and Poisson Ratio in a Loose Sandy Martian Regolith Simulant Under Low Stresses: 1. Laboratory Investigation

Results from InSight Robotic Arm Activities

Particle-size control on the structure and collapsibility of sediments formed by air-fall deposition

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