Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8136097 | Icarus | 2015 | 14 Pages |
Abstract
All atmosphere-less planetary bodies are covered with a dust layer, the so-called regolith, which determines the optical, mechanical and thermal properties of their surface. These properties depend on the regolith material, the size distribution of the particles it consists of, and the porosity to which these particles are packed. We performed experiments in parabolic flights to determine the gravity dependency of the packing density of regolith for solid-particle sizes of 60 μm and 1 mm as well as for 100-250 μm-sized agglomerates of 1.5 μm-sized solid grains. We utilized g-levels between 0.7 m sâ2 and 18 m sâ2 and completed our measurements with experiments under normal gravity conditions. Based on previous experimental and theoretical literature and supported by our new experiments, we developed an analytical model to calculate the regolith stratification of celestial rocky and icy bodies and estimated the mechanical yields of the regolith under the weight of an astronaut and a spacecraft resting on these objects.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Space and Planetary Science
Authors
Rainer Schräpler, Jürgen Blum, Ingo von Borstel, Carsten Güttler,