Exploring the Lunar Poles: Curation and Characterization of Volatile-Bearing Returned Samples
Abstract
Introduction: The lunar south pole is a target of interest due to its permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) and their potential for harboring volatiles. Volatiles provide key information for scientists studying Solar System history and evolution. Recent interest in the lunar south pole for human exploration has provided further impetus for characterizing lunar volatiles, as they provide resources for human crew. We aim to experimentally determine the ideal conditions to preserve/characterize lunar polar samples for astromaterials curation and human exploration purposes. This abstract summarizes recent work under NASA-JSC's Center Innovation Fund for future lunar polar missions. This work is split into two complementary and parallel efforts, described below.
Lunar Polar Simulant Development: Our lunar polar simulant includes both a high-fidelity silicate and a moderate-fidelity volatile component. The silicate is a highlands-type lunar simulant with a grain-size distribution similar to that of returned lunar samples. The volatile component replicates a subset of compounds observed by LCROSS, though it currently excludes volatiles with low condensation temperatures. The simulant is being used for cold (-20°C, -80°C) and cryogenic testing to ascertain the ideal sample storage conditions: a) during transport to Earth from the lunar surface, and b) during curation operations after Earth return. In parallel, a negative-pressure glovebox is being procured to allow for inclusion of the full suite of LCROSS-detected compounds. Lunar Environment Technology Development: A lunar polar testbed is also under development at JSC. The testbed includes a vacuum chamber that mimics the lunar exosphere surface environment, a real-time compositional monitoring system, and will directly interface with the negative-pressure glovebox to facilitate full-fidelity experimentation. This testbed will operate at ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and cryogenic temperatures. The system currently uses residual gas analyzer for in-situ compositional monitoring, and a GC-MS will be integrated in the future. In progress are three temperature zones which aim to allow for controlled temperature ramping of samples and monitoring of lunar simulant outgassing under UHV handling conditions and various pressure and vacuum regimes.- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.P34B..10M
- Keywords:
-
- 6205 Asteroids;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6230 Martian satellites;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6250 Moon;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS