Experimental investigation of lunar dust impact wear

• Impact wear from JSC-1A alters surface properties of transparent and metallic media.
• Impact wear from JSC-1A causes a significant decrease of transmittance.
• A significant amount of dust particles is embedded in the surface of ductile media.
• JSC-1A impact erosion of silica glass is caused by chipping.

Future lunar bases may require multiple start and landing operations for resupply or sample return during their life cycle. Landings and take-offs would most likely take place in the vicinity of the base, like the Apollo 12׳s Lunar Lander, which landed close to the Surveyor 3 probe. The exhaust jet of the Lunar Lander׳s engine stirred up the lunar soil and sandblasted the surface of Surveyor 3, which lead to significant erosion effects. This shows that close landing operations may cause damage to infrastructure elements. In this work, an experimental setup was used to analyze the impact wear from impacting lunar dust particles. The tests were conducted using the lunar simulant JSC-1A, which was sieved down to approximately 250–350 microns. During landing operations these particles might be accelerated by the spacecraft׳s exhaust plume to velocities up to 400 m/s. To achieve representative particle velocities the study was conducted using an electromagnetic eddy current accelerator. Metallic and optical media were chosen as impact targets to test their resistance against impact wear, which was characterized by the changes of surface roughness and optical performance. The tests also, showed that ductile plastics are more affected by the sticking of particles than brittle materials.