Regolith adherence characterization (RAC) experiment on the Moon and it’s ground-based simulation: Materials Issues

Abstract

Abstract The interaction of Lunar dust and other environmental factors, like vacuum, temperatures, solar radiation, ultraviolet irradiation, and electron (e-) and proton (p+) irradiation with structures on the Moon and the outside of the future Gateway Lunar station may lead to permanent change or complete loss of thermal, optical, and other functionalities that could potentially lead to catastrophic failures. Among these factors, Lunar regolith dust is the most aggressive, causing the main problems. ITL recently initiated a program to evaluate, further develop, and enhance its unique cornerstone Lunar Dust Mitigation Technology (DMT) for sensitive materials on external space structures. In the framework of this program, ITL prepared a set of DMT-treated samples for inclusion in the “Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) Payload” funded by NASA and developed and built by Aegis. Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) Payload mission will determine how lunar regolith dust sticks to a range of space materials and coatings (collected from NASA, academia, and industry) exposed to the Moon’s environment at different phases of flight caused by 1) landing, and 2) during routine lander operations. To understand the results of the Lunar exposure experiment, an extensive program was initiated at ITL where a set of experiments on interaction of Lunar dust simulants with samples, similar to the RAC Payload experiments on the Moon, will be conducted in ITL’s Vacuum Lunar Dusty Environment Simulator that will be upgraded for this project. This paper will discuss mainly the material problems and their preparation for experiments. The detailed description of the Vacuum Lunar Dusty Environment Simulator and the results obtained in it will be published elsewhere in upcoming publications.