An experimental study of lunar dust erosive wear potential using the JSC-1AF lunar dust simulant

Abstract

The exhaust plumes from spacecraft landing on Earth׳s moon advect lunar dust particles which have been shown to erode, or “sandblast”, nearby objects. Evidence of this phenomenon was provided by NASA’s Apollo 12 mission during which exhaust ejecta, generated by the Apollo Lunar Module landing, erosively wore components of the Surveyor III lunar probe located 155m from the Apollo 12 landing site. Recently, interest in new lunar missions has been expressed by a number of different groups including countries and private companies. With the potential for a large number of new lunar landings in relatively close proximity to each other and existing lunar hardware, efforts must be taken to understand the damage that lunar dust particle erosion can cause to material surfaces. In this work, a study was conducted with the JSC-1AF lunar dust simulant to understand the erosive potential of lunar dust. Metallic and acrylic test specimens were exposed to erosive wear and the changes in mass, surface topography, transmittance, and reflectance are reported. It was observed that exposure to erosive wear from JSC-1AF, even at moderate velocities (approximately 105m/s), resulted in a significant decrease in direct transmittance and total reflectance—greater than 70% in some cases. The results in this study suggest that optical components, such as lenses and mirrors are highly susceptible to damage during lunar landings due to lunar dust particle impingement.