A research team from the Skoltech Center for Design, Manufacturing and Materials (CDMM) comprising 2nd year Ph.D. student Maxim Isachenkov, Senior Research Scientist Svyatoslav Chugunov, Professor Iskander Akhatov, and Professor Igor Shishkovsky has prepared an extensive review on the use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies (also known as 3-D-printing) in crewed lunar exploration. Their paper published in the journal Acta Astronautica…
Tag: lunar regolith
Figuring out how to breathe the moon’s regolith
Oxygen ranks right up there as one of the most important resources for use in space exploration. Not only is it a critical component of rocket fuel, it’s also necessary for astronauts to breathe anywhere outside Earth’s atmosphere. Availability of this abundant resource isn’t a problem—it’s widely available throughout the solar system. One place it is particularly prevalent is lunar regolith,…
What is the moon’s terminator line?
The moon’s terminator is the dividing line between day and night on the moon. As we see it from Earth, it marks the line of lunar sunsets or sunrises. Earth and other worlds in our solar system have terminator lines, too. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-moon-planet-terminator-line-twilight-zone…
ESA seeking dust-proof materials for lunar return
When humans return to the moon, they’ll have formidable challenge lying in wait: lunar dust. The talcum-like lunar regolith is considered the biggest operational problem facing moon colonists. Within a few days of dust exposure, Apollo spacesuits suffered obscured visors, clogged mechanisms and eroded suit layers. So an ESA team is looking into novel material options to serve as the basis…
Humans experience 200 times more radiation standing on the moon than standing on the Earth
January 31, 2021, will mark 50 years since the launch of Apollo 14. This historic mission was the first to broadcast a color television signal from the surface of the moon and marked the heroic return to space of America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard, who famously hit two golf balls off of the lunar regolith. While the significance of Apollo 14…
Data from Yutu-2 suggests top layer of lunar regolith is material thrown from nearby crater
A team of researchers has found evidence suggesting that the regolith material on which the Chinese rover Yutu-2 is situated consists mainly of material that was thrown there when an asteroid struck the moon nearby. In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the group describes their analyses of data sent back by the rover and what they learned from…