Experimental Study of Pneumatic Excavation of Lunar Regolith Simulant JSC 1A

Abstract:

Because of harsh environment on the lunar surface，the conventional terrestrial excavation equipments on the earth can’t perform perfectly on the moon. On the contrary, the utilization of high pressure gas which will expand sharply on the condition of vacuum eliminate the mechanical friction of terrestrial equipment and use the hard vacuum environment intelligently at the same time. The frequency of high pressure gas injection, burial depth of excavation tube and pressure of high pressure gas will make a difference in the mass efficiency（the quality of lunar regolith simulant excavated by 1 g gas），in order to analyze the affection of these three factors to mass efficiency，we invent a test device which work under the vacuum circumstance based on the utilization of high pressure gas. Results of orthogonal test on the factors affecting the efficiency show that the maximum mass efficiency occurs when the frequency of high pressure gas injection was 0.5 s open and 0.5 s closed; the mass efficiency is in direct proportion to burial depth of excavation tube; a reasonable pressure value is in need for maximum quality efficiency.

Key words:pneumatic excavation; mass efficiency; JSC 1A lunar regolith simulant