The Strata-1 Experiment On Small Body Regolith Segregation
Keywords
Asteroid; Comet; Dynamics; Experiment; International space station; Regolith
Abstract
The Strata-1 experiment studies the mixing and segregation dynamics of regolith on small bodies by exposing a suite of regolith simulants to the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for one year. This will improve our understanding of regolith dynamics and properties on small asteroids, and may assist in interpreting analyses of samples from missions to small bodies such as OSIRIS-REx, Hayabusa-1 and -2, and future missions to small bodies. The Strata-1 experiment consists of four evacuated tubes partially filled with regolith simulants. The simulants are chosen to represent models of regolith covering a range of complexity and tailored to inform and improve computational studies. The four tubes are regularly imaged while moving in response to the ambient vibrational environment using dedicated cameras. The imagery is then downlinked to the Strata-1 science team about every two months. Analyses performed on the imagery includes evaluating the extent of the segregation of Strata-1 samples and comparing the observations to computational models. After Strata-1's return to Earth, x-ray tomography and optical microscopy will be used to study the post-flight simulant distribution. Strata-1 is also a pathfinder for the new “1E” ISS payload class, which is intended to simplify and accelerate emplacement of experiments on board ISS.
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Publication Title
Acta Astronautica
Volume
142
Number of Pages
87-94
Document Type
Article
Personal Identifier
scopus
DOI Link
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.10.025
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
85032293502 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85032293502
STARS Citation
Fries, Marc; Abell, Paul; Brisset, Julie; Britt, Daniel; and Colwell, Joshua, "The Strata-1 Experiment On Small Body Regolith Segregation" (2018). Scopus Export 2015-2019. 10395.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus2015/10395