Identifying and Quantifying Volatile Content and Geotechnical Properties in the lunar PSRs

Abstract

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-4044.vid With increased international interest in returning to the lunar surface and harvesting the water ice in the permanently shaded regions it is clear many uncertainties about the geotechnical properties, type and quantity of volatiles remain. Current state of the art in-situ measurements cannot uniquely determine what volatiles are present while determining geotechnical properties. No volatile release profile database exists currently. As part of the inaugural NASA Lunar Surface Technology Research (LuSTR) program, our approach to use a Percussive Hot Cone Penetrometer (DHCP) in combination with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was selected for funding. The team from Michigan Technological University (MTU) and Honeybee Robotics (HBR) will perform this work in two years from 2021-2023. This paper will describe the progress made over the initial summer testing.