Study of thermal properties of the lunar regolith based on in situ temperature measurements and experiments on soil simulants

The experimental design and the development of a theory to interpret the experimental data from measurements of the thermal conductivity of lunar core samples. Measurements conducted while the lunar material is still in the core tube reduce the possibility of physical and chemical disturbances to the sample. The sample was heated externally by radiation at a known rate, the variation of temperature was measured at the surface of the core sample, and thermal conductivity was determined by comparing the observed temperature with the theoretically expected one.