Recent experiments by the investigators have shown that practically sized helical anchors can provide significant resistance to uplift forces in the lunar simulant JSC-1. Properly scaled to account for differences in the gravity fields between the benchtop environment on Earth and the lunar surface, these experiments provide valuable insight into the likely behavior of anchors in uplift on the Moon. Preliminary results of these uplift experiments are presented and discussed. Further, installation torque was monitored during the installation of these augered-anchors, and these torque data appear to correlate with the soil strength, providing a consistent indication of soil strength with depth. Properly calibrated, these anchors might serve a dual purpose on a surface rover, providing stability during difficult maneuvers and simultaneously providing valuable information on the nature of the subsurface soils. These issues are discussed.
Helical Anchors for Combined Anchoring and Soil Testing in Lunar Operations
Sixth ASCE Specialty Conference and Exposition on Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Space ; 1998 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Space 98 ; 489-494
1998-04-21
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Helical Anchors fro Combined Anchoring and Soil Testing in Lunar Operations
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