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Active TRL 4 (started at 4, targeting 6)
Landing on and leaving the lunar surface requires the control of lunar ejecta – or high-speed particles – that are blown off the surface by rocket-powered landers. Erosion and damage caused by the lander plumes could reduce the scientific value of the landing surface and surrounding area. To address this issue, the Tethered Lander Operation of Ejecta Backscattered Laser Albedo and Sizing Tracker (EjectaBLAST) will deploy a lander-mounted active laser light-scattering system to determine particle size distribution in the energetic dust clouds created by rocket plumes. With this instrument, researchers aim to help solve the outstanding challenge about the transport physics of dust liberated by lunar landings and place constraints that can be used to calibrate NASA’s existing plume-surface interaction (PSI) predictive software. The system determines laser beam propagation decay lengths at multiple wavelengths from images of light scatter, and it determines particle size distribution from those values as a function of position and time.
Problem Statement
Current physics models of soil erosion in supersonic, low-gravity environments require additional, high-quality data to increase their accuracy. Given that lunar dust clouds contain a broad distribution of particle sizes and relative velocities, the spatiotemporal variation is particularly important to comprehensive modeling. Knowledge of the particle size distribution created by landers will be vital to the success of future lunar missions – such as NASA’s Artemis and Gateway missions – for predicting and preventing damage to future vehicles landing on the lunar surface. Lunar lander ejecta can damage surface and orbital assets. The lunar surface can also be compromised from the erosion caused by the landers. Empirical data on ejecta particle size distributions and behavior is needed to inform models that will enable safer lunar landings, which is difficult to achieve with existing imaging technology and bulk detection methods.
Technology Maturation
The tethered flight test on Astrobotic’s Xodiac vertical takeoff vertical landing (VTVL) vehicle will be used to simulate the lunar landing profiles. Landing surfaces will be covered with lunar simulant to reproduce lunar landing conditions and relevant plume effects. Researchers expect to validate the scientific instrument, capture images of laser propagation through a cloud of lunar-simulant dust disturbed by the Xodiac’s engine plume, and mature the data processing algorithms. The flight test aims to advance this innovation’s technology readiness level (TRL) to TRL 6. This work is related to flight testing under T0242.
- Safer: Improved models of lunar ejecta particles could enable safer lunar landings and launches.
- Advance state of the art: Data from a unique set of measurements from a relative environment is expected to validate parts of modeling predictions.
Future Customers
- Commercial lunar landers, such as NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) providers
- Planetary science missions
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