Tools have been developed to model and simulate the effects of lunar landing vehicles on the lunar environment (Metzger, 2011), mostly addressing the effects of regolith erosion by rocket plumes and the fate of the ejected lunar soil particles (Metzger, 2010). These tools are being applied at KSC to predict ejecta from the upcoming Google Lunar X-Prize Landers and how they may damage the historic Apollo landing sites. The emerging interest in lunar mining poses a threat of contamination to pristine craters at the lunar poles, which act as "cold traps" for water and may harbor other valuable minerals Crider and Vondrak (2002). The KSC Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Lab tools have been expanded to address the probability for contamination of these pristine "cold trap" craters.
Lunar Cold Trap Contamination by Landing Vehicles
2014
13 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Spacecraft Trajectories & Flight Mechanics , Space Launch Vehicles & Support Equipment , Manned Spacecraft , COLD TRAPS , LUNAR LANDING , CONTAMINATION , ROCKET EXHAUST , EJECTA , REGOLITH , LUNAR ENVIRONMENT , LANDING SIMULATION , APOLLO PROJECT , LUNAR MINING , BALLISTIC TRAJECTORIES , MAXWELL-BOLTZMANN DENSITY FUNCTION , DESCENT TRAJECTORIES , EROSION
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