Geotechnical Properties Of Asteroids Affecting Surface Operations, Mining, And In Situ Resource Utilization Activities

Keywords

Adhesion; Asteroid Redirect Mission; Asteroid simulant; Bearing capacity; Bulk cohesion; Cohesion; Compaction; Density; Discrete element method; Electrostatic forces; Gas drag; Geotechnical properties; In situ resource utilization; Porosity; Regolith; Simulations; Soil mechanics; Solar radiation pressure; Strength; Tribocharging; Van der Waals force

Abstract

Geotechnical properties of a granular material affect all surface operations from mobility to landing and excavation. As such, significant efforts to study and model these properties are necessary before sending a spacecraft. Lack of knowledge of regolith material properties adversely affected Apollo, Lunokhod, and Mars Exploration Rover missions; hence additional measures need to be undertaken to prevent potential failures or delays of future missions, in particular missions to explore low-gravity asteroidal surfaces. Geotechnical properties of regolith include cohesion and friction angle, which affect material strength. Friction angle is gravity-dependent, whereas cohesion is not. It is therefore much easier to study and model surface regolith on planetary bodies with significant gravity such as the Moon or Mars. If gravity becomes extremely low, for example, on asteroids, cohesive forces start to dominate. This chapter addresses geotechnical properties of asteroid regolith and their implications for safe mission surface operations. The chapter starts with a high-level overview of soil mechanics followed by an overview of asteroid’s regolith from past and current missions. Models related to regolith are presented with specific emphasis on sources of cohesion. Several examples of surface operations are given (landing, boulder retrieval, excavation) to illustrate the effect of various properties on the hardware.

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Publication Title

Primitive Meteorites and Asteroids: Physical, Chemical, and Spectroscopic Observations Paving the Way to Exploration

Number of Pages

439-476

Document Type

Article; Book Chapter

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813325-5.00008-2

Socpus ID

85081914980 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85081914980

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