Related papers: Lunar Cold Trap Contamination by Landing Vehicles
We use the Mars Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (MRAMS) to simulate lake storms on Mars, finding that intense localized precipitation will occur for lake size >=10^3 km^2. Mars has a low-density atmosphere, so deep convection can be…
While the floors of deep lunar craters are largely shielded from solar radiation and thus provide an ideal thermal environment for water ice accumulation, meteoroids on highly inclined orbits can easily access permanently shadowed regions…
Landing robotic spacecrafts and humans on Mars has become one of the inevitable technological necessities for humans. Effectuating perfect Mars expedition requires landing of enormous cargoes, crewed modules, ascent vehicles, and scientific…
A technique to estimate mass erosion rate of surface soil during landing of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) and total mass ejected due to the rocket plume interaction is proposed and tested. The erosion rate is proportional to the product of…
This 2020 Decadal Survey White Paper reviews what is known about lunar and martian lander Plume Surface Interactions (PSI) during powered descent. This includes an overview of the phenomenology and a description of the induced hardware and…
The lunar history of water deposition, loss, and transport post-accretion has become an important consideration in relation to the possibility of a human outpost on the Moon. Very recent work has shown that a secondary primordial atmosphere…
The Curiosity rover recently detected a background of 0.7 ppb and spikes of 7 ppb of methane on Mars. This in situ measurement reorients our understanding of the Martian environment and its potential for life, as the current theories do not…
The interactions between rocket exhaust plumes and the surface of extraterrestrial bodies during spacecraft landings involve complex multiphase flow dynamics that pose significant risk to space exploration missions. The two-phase flow is…
The discovery of ice deposits in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar North and South Pole Moon presents an important opportunity for In-Situ Resource Utilization. These ice deposits maybe the source for sustaining a lunar base or…
It has been demonstrated that lunar dust simulant can be efficiently lofted and removed from various room temperature surfaces in vacuum when exposed to a low-energy electron beam. This provides a potential solution to the well-known dust…
Impact rates in the first 500 Myr of the solar system are critical to an understanding of lunar geological history, but they have been controversial. The widely accepted, post-Apollo paradigm of early lunar impact cratering (ca. 1975-2014)…
Aeolian sediment transport is observed to occur on Mars as well as other extraterrestrial environments, generating ripples and dunes as on Earth. The search for terrestrial analogues of planetary bedforms, as well as environmental…
In contrast to terrestrial environment, the harsh lunar environment conditions include lower gravity acceleration, ultra-high vacuum and high (low) temperature in the daytime (night-time). This paper focuses on the effects of those…
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…
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…
Dust and sand motion are a common sight on Mars. Understanding the interaction of atmosphere and Martian soil is fundamental to describe the planet's weather, climate and surface morphology. We set up a wind tunnel to study the lift of a…
Reliable energy delivery is a critical requirement for long-term lunar missions, particularly in regions with limited solar access, such as polar craters and during extended lunar nights. Optical Power Beaming (OPB) using high-power lasers…
The electrical environment of a ground vacuum testing chamber creates facility effects for gridded ion thrusters. For example, it is well known that the plume from the thruster generates current paths that are very different from what…
A thorough analysis of wheel-terrain interaction is critical to ensure the safe and efficient operation of space rovers on extraterrestrial surfaces like the Moon or Mars. This paper presents an approach for developing and experimentally…
In the pursuit of lunar exploration and the investigation of water presence on the lunar surface, a comprehensive understanding of plasma-surface interactions is crucial since the regolith's space weathering can create H$_2$O. However, the…