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Structural, Physical, and Compositional Analysis of Lunar Simulants and RegolithRelative to the prior manned Apollo and unmanned robotic missions, planned Lunar initiatives are comparatively complex and longer in duration. Individual crew rotations are envisioned to span several months, and various surface systems must function in the Lunar environment for periods of years. As a consequence, an increased understanding of the surface environment is required to engineer and test the associated materials, components, and systems necessary to sustain human habitation and surface operations. The effort described here concerns the analysis of existing simulant materials, with application to Lunar return samples. The interplay between these analyses fulfills the objective of ascertaining the critical properties of regolith itself, and the parallel objective of developing suitable stimulant materials for a variety of engineering applications. Presented here are measurements of the basic physical attributes, i.e. particle size distributions and general shape factors. Also discussed are structural and chemical properties, as determined through a variety of techniques, such as optical microscopy, SEM and TEM microscopy, Mossbauer Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman microspectroscopy, inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence mapping. A comparative description of currently available stimulant materials is discussed, with implications for more detailed analyses, as well as the requirements for continued refinement of methods for simulant production.
Document ID
20120012875
Acquisition Source
Glenn Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Greenberg, Paul
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Street, Kenneth W.
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Gaier, James
(NASA Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
August 26, 2013
Publication Date
October 29, 2008
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
E-18248
Meeting Information
Meeting: Joint Annual Meeting of LEAG-ICEUM-SRR
Location: Cape Canaveral, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: October 29, 2008
End Date: October 31, 2008
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 936374.03.03.03
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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