Method for Quantifying Lunar Polar Volatiles in Regolith and the Development of a Thermal Model

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

10-17-2023

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics; Department of Chemical Engineering

Abstract

To achieve NASA’s strategic goal of extending human presence into cis-lunar space and sustaining operations on the lunar surface, ground truthing and prospecting missions to regions of permanent shadow (PSRs) on the lunar surface will precede the deployment of resource extraction, processing, and utilization technologies. Commercial investment in in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies will also require the identification of economically valuable compounds and their respective concentrations in lunar regolith. Michigan Technological University’s Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (PSTDL) received grant funding through NASA’s Lunar Surface Technology Research (LuSTR) program to develop the proposed Percussive Hot Cone Penetrometer (PHCP) prospecting instrument. In addition to the collection of geotechnical information from a cone penetrometer, an imbedded thermal measurement system will allow volatiles such as H2O, CO2, CH4, C2H4, CH3OH and others to be detected and quantified both vertically and laterally. This paper focuses on the results of initial testing and development of the thermal measurement system and thermal modeling used to quantify H2O in lunar regolith under atmospheric and simulated lunar conditions. Regions of vaporization were clearly detected and measurements of temperature and energy were used to predict the weight percentage of water ice in a given sample.

Publication Title

AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics)

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