Abstract When lunar probes make a landing on the lunar surface, lunar-soil particles will be blown away by the engine plume with a significant collision phenomenon. The hard-sphere model, whose governing equations satisfy the momentum and kinetic-energy conservation equations, is used in research to study collision phenomena among particles having different diameters. The lunar-soil particles with different diameters collide 36.8–153.2 times on average, and the average speed is 50.4–426.7 m/s assuming no energy loss. When the recovery coefficient is reduced from 1.0 to 0.1, the average number of collisions increases by 16.3%–65.7%, and the average speed decreases by 24.2%–49.8%. Furthermore, the number of particle-occupied space grids increases for small-diameter lunar-soil particles as the collision process loses energy but decreases for large-diameter particles. Overall, the collision phenomenon among lunar-soil particles under engine plumes is important because it causes massive momentum and kinetic energy transfers among particles, which alters particle spatial trajectory and distribution.
Highlights Collision phenomenon of lunar soil particles under vacuum conditions is studied. Collision makes lunar soil particle distribution to cohere with landing picture. Hard sphere model shows greater momentum and energy transfer than soft sphere model. The average number of collisions of lunar soil particle is 36.8–153.2 times. Considering the energy loss, number of collisions increases by 16.3%–65.7%.
Collision phenomenon of lunar-soil particles under engine plume in a vacuum by numerical study
Acta Astronautica ; 189 ; 615-623
2021-09-08
9 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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