Related papers: Modeling the Thermal Extraction of Water Ice from …
A physics-based computer model has been developed to support the development of volatile extraction from regolith of the Moon and asteroids. The model is based upon empirical data sets for extraterrestrial soils and simulants, including…
The observed presence of water molecules in the dayside lunar regolith was an unexpected discovery and remains poorly understood. Standard thermophysical models predict temperatures that are too high for adsorbed water to be stable. We…
Estimating surface properties such as porosity and grain sizes is key for planning lander missions and landing site selection on icy moons. However, spaceborne instruments do not measure the regolith properties directly: instead, they…
We present recent improvements in the simulation of regolith sampling processes in microgravity using the numerical particle method smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH). We use an elastic-plastic soil constitutive model for large deformation…
Lunar regolith, the layer of unconsolidated material covering the Moon's surface, is central to the science and technology developed for the Moon, notably related to in-situ science investigations, resource utilization, surface…
To establish a self-sustained human presence in space and to explore deeper into the solar system, extensive research has been conducted on In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) systems. Past studies have proposed and researched many…
This study integrates a data-driven model for estimating the unfrozen water content into the thermo-hydraulic coupling simulation of frozen soils. An artificial neural network (ANN) was employed to develop this data-driven model using a…
Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are thought to contain a wealth of resources, including water, iron, titanium, nickel, platinum and silicates. Future space missions that can exploit these resources by performing In-Situ Resource Utilization…
Drilling and Extraction Automated System (DREAMS) is a fully automated prototype-drilling rig that can drill, extract water and assess subsurface density profiles from simulated lunar and Martian subsurface ice. DREAMS system is developed…
Numerical hydrodynamics simulations of gases dominated by ideal, nondegenerate matter pressure and thermal radiation pressure in equilibrium entail finding the temperature as part of the evolution. Since the temperature is not typically a…
An innovative and accurate dynamic Compact Thermal Model extraction method is proposed for multi-chip power electronics systems. It accounts for thermal coupling between multiple heat sources. Transient electro-thermal coupling can easily…
Since the Apollo program or earlier it has been widely believed that the lunar regolith was compacted through vibrations including nearby impact events, thermal stress release in the regolith, deep moon quakes, and shallow moon quakes.…
Cylindrical specimens of Martian and Lunar regolith simulants were molded using a salt water binder and sintered at various temperatures for comparing microstructure, mechanical properties and shrinkage. Material microstructure are reported…
The field of asteroid thermophysical modeling has experienced an extraordinary growth in the last ten years, as new thermal infrared data became available for hundreds of thousands of asteroids. The infrared emission of asteroids depends on…
Tools have been developed to model and simulate the effects of lunar landing vehicles on the lunar environment, mostly addressing the effects of regolith erosion by rocket plumes and the fate of the ejected lunar soil particles. The KSC…
NASA has developed a "Figure of Merit" method to grade the fidelity of lunar simulants for scientific and engineering purposes. Here we extend the method to grade asteroid simulants, both regolith and cobble variety, and we apply the method…
Regolith simulants are essential for space research and technology development. Yet, their physical properties often differ from those of true planetary soil, particularly when compared to regolith properties in-situ, that experience…
We used infrared data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment to globally map thermophysical properties of the Moon's regolith fines layer. Thermal conductivity varies from 7.4$\times$10$^{-4}$ W…
This work is concerned with the numerical simulation of ablation of geological materials using a millimetre wave source. To this end, a new mathematical model is developed for a thermal approach to the problem, allowing for large scale…
In the companion paper ("Erosion rate of lunar soil under a landing rocket, part 1: identifying the rate-limiting physics", this issue) an equation was developed for the rate that lunar soil erodes under the exhaust of a landing rocket.…