The American Apollo and Soviet Luna missions to the Moon during the ‘space race’ led to a vast collection of knowledge regarding the properties of the lunar surface. A critical but often under-appreciated investigative tool used in the missions is the penetrometer, a simple device which was successfully operated both manually and semi-autonomously to penetrate and characterize the unknown lunar regolith. Since that time, penetrometers have seen little use in investigations of returned lunar soil (also called regolith) or—more often—regolith simulants, though a few intrepid researchers have continued using the penetrometer in various forms. Recent work provides evidence that both the penetration and relaxation behavior of the regolith can help to determine useful physical properties, including important indications of ice content, cohesion, and particle angularity. Current plans to return to the Moon's polar regions to explore icy regolith are being developed along with in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) demonstration missions, and some will likely include instruments for determining in-situ regolith properties using penetrometer technology.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Penetration Investigations in Lunar Regolith and Simulants


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Handbook of Space Resources ; Chapter : 15 ; 521-579


    Publication date :

    2023-04-28


    Size :

    59 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Thermal Properties of Lunar Regolith Simulants

    Street, K.W. / Ray, C. / Rickman, D. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2010


    Development Issues for Lunar Regolith Simulants

    Rickman, Doug / Carpenter, Paul / Sibille, Laurent et al. | NTRS | 2006


    MANUFACTURING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LUNAR REGOLITH SIMULANTS

    Celik, Kemal / Hay, Rotana / Peng, Bo | TIBKAT | 2022


    3D SHAPE ANALYSIS OF LUNAR REGOLITH SIMULANTS

    Peng, Bo / Hay, Rotana / Celik, Kemal | TIBKAT | 2023