Summary

Description

<p>This project seeks to develop a sensor to measure blowing soil during a lunar landing and also provide a low-mass, low-cost, low-complexity alternative for detecting valuable mineral deposits. We plan to demonstrate feasibility of the simplest, lowest-mass method of measuring density of a cloud of lunar soil ejected by rocket exhaust and using new math techniques with a small baseline laser/camera system. The focus is on exploring the erosion process that occurs when the exhaust plume of a lunar rocket impacts the regolith.</p><p>Also, predicting the behavior of the lunar soil that would be blasted from a lunar landing/launch site shall assist in better design and protection of any future lunar settlement from scouring of structures and equipment. NASA is gathering experimental data to improve soil erosion models and understand how lunar particles enter the plume flow.</p>