Material strength determines the optimum mining approach and brackets the upper limit of excavation forces, energies, and size of mining equipment. In particular, knowledge of the strength of volatile-rich deposits on Mars and the Moon for the purpose of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) would be critical to the success of ISRU missions. Numerous tests were performed to determine unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of JSC-1a lunar soil simulant at various densities, water contents (wt%) of 3%, 5%, and 12%, and temperatures of 253 K and 77 K.
Mechanical Properties of Icy Lunar Regolith: Application to ISRU on the Moon and Mars
16th Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments ; 2018 ; Cleveland, Ohio
Earth and Space 2018 ; 109-120
2018-11-15
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English