In terms of performance we find the inertia of a landing spacecraft, with a mass of 100kg, is adequate to penetrate regoliths expected on the surface of Solar System bodies. Limestone powder, an analogue for a dusty surface, offered very little resistance allowing full penetration of the target container. Both iron powder, representing a stronger coarse grained regolith, and foamglas, representing a consolidated comet crust, could be penetrated to similar depths of around two to three tip diameters. Speed tests suggest a linear dependence of penetration depth on impact speed.
Using the inertia of spacecraft during landing to penetrate regoliths of the Solar System
Advances in space research ; 56 , 6
2015
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
Functional Comparison of Lunar Regoliths and Their Simulants
Online Contents | 2013
|SAE Technical Papers | 1967
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