SPACE — When astronauts return to the lunar surface, they will likely do more driving than walking. But to prevent moon dust from billowing, they needed a road. Moreover, the United States and China and others have an ambitious mission in the future, namely establishing a lunar colony.
A study was carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the results were published in Nature Scientific Reports on October 12 2023. ESA, which is part of NASA’s Artemis mission, tested creating a roadworthy surface by melting simulated lunar dust using a powerful laser.
With the existence of civilization, it is inevitable that roads will appear, and this is especially true on the Moon, to avoid annoying dust. Moon dust is very fine, abrasive, and sticky. In the Apollo era, dust clogged equipment and eroded astronauts’ spacesuits.
When the Apollo 17 lunar rover lost its rear fender, the vehicle filled with dust that trapped heat. The astronauts had to improvise to fix it using recycled lunar maps.
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The Soviet Union’s Lunokod 2 rover also died young due to overheating when its radiator was covered in dust. The Surveyor 3 lander was hit by dust when the Apollo 12 Lunar Module touched down about 180 meters away.
Current NASA modeling shows that when landing on the moon, the probe’s thrusters could kick up tons of dust. This dust has the potential to stick to the lander’s surface and cover the entire landing area.
The most practical response is to prevent dust by paving areas of activity on the Moon, including roads and landing pads. The idea of melting sand to create a highway was first proposed in 1933.
Now, ESA’s PAVER project, paving the way for regolith sintering over large areas, is investigating the feasibility of a similar approach for lunar road-making. The project is led by the German Institute for Materials Research and Testing BAM with Aalen University in Germany, LIQUIFER Systems Group in Austria, and Germany’s Clausthal University of Technology.
The PAVER consortium uses a 12 kilowatt carbon dioxide laser to melt simulated lunar dust into a solid, glass-like surface. This effort is a way to build a paved surface on the surface of the Moon.
Melting simulated lunar dust using a laser. Image: ESA
As ESA materials engineer Advenit Makaya explains, the project actually goes back to the initial concept of 1933. In practice, ESA would not take a carbon dioxide laser to the Moon. Lasers currently only serve as light sources for experiments.
While on the moon, they will use sunlight that is concentrated using a Fresnel lens. That would produce the equivalent melting as using a carbon dioxide laser.
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2023-10-23 20:48:00
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