Geotechnical Properties of BP-1 Lunar Regolith Simulant
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 5
Abstract
Understanding the mechanical behavior of lunar regolith is of great importance for future missions to the Moon and other similar extraterrestrial environments. However, due to the scarcity of lunar regolith a number of simulants have been developed to facilitate experimental testing. This paper presents the geotechnical properties of an inexpensive lunar regolith simulant named Black Point 1 (BP-1). An experimental program including particle-size distribution, microscopy observations using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, density measurements, compressibility, and shear strength was performed. Additionally, BP-1 was compared with regolith recovered from lunar missions and a number of its simulants. The physical properties of BP-1 were found to be similar to other existing simulants and to the natural lunar regolith.
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Acknowledgments
BP-1 soil was provided courtesy of Kennedy Space Center. The first two authors were supported by the AMPS-CBSI Fellowship which is funded through NSF GK-12 Fellows Program Grant DGE-0741714 and the CBSI Initiative, which is funded by the Black Male Donor Collaborative, Brooklyn Community Foundation, J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, Motorola Innovation Generation Grant, NY Space Grant Consortium, Xerox Foundation, and White Cedar Fund.
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 5 • September 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 19, 2013
Accepted: Aug 19, 2014
Published online: Sep 23, 2014
Discussion open until: Feb 23, 2015
Published in print: Sep 1, 2015
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