Lunar regolith poses one of the main risks and challenges to any lunar surface mission due to the abrasion nature of particles on the Moon, the extreme environment, and the uncertain particle properties. While efforts to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental properties of regolith particles increased in the past, tests still focused mainly on low-fidelity tests. With the increased...
Within the frame of future lunar missions, the evaluation of the change in the performance of representative covering materials is required to estimate the effect of particulate contamination induced by the dust coverage over time (natural or man-induced).
This paper reports on the existing large set of data on the effect of LHS-1 & LHS1-25A deposits (LDS from Space Ressource Technologies)...
Modification of thermal control surfaces is still a big uncertainty for lunar surface missions. For thermal engineers, changes in thermo-optical properties over mission lifetime can be crucial for thermal design feasibility. Literature from measurement campaigns shows a significant increase especially of radiator coatings’ solar absorptivity. The shortcoming of legacy measurements is their...
Both in manned and robotic exploration the crew protection and reduction of material degradation are key aspects in lunar (or Mars) surface applications. One of the main risks is caused by the exposal and interaction with lunar regolith and dust. Due to its irregular shape and sharp edges, lunar dust is highly abrasive and poses a substantial risk for joints and moving parts. The DEAR project...
