Martian and Lunar soils characterization at very low effective stress under static and dynamic loads

The surfaces of many celestial objects, including the Moon and Mars, are covered in the regolith. Regolith is the layer of unconsolidated solid material (e.g., dust and soil) covering the bedrock. There is broad interest in developing in situ resource utilization (ISRU), which aims to enhance space mission capabilities by utilizing resources extracted from local regolith sources.

NGI is working on various research projects funded by the Norwegian Space Agency (Norsk Romsenter) on regolith simulant characterization. The extraction of regolith resources and their conversion to useful products depend on engineering processes (excavation, trafficability, etc.) and are governed by regolith physical properties.

For example, the ISRU industry will require infrastructure development on the lunar surface. Thus, thorough characterization of lunar regolith will be invaluable for the safe design and performance of rovers, launch pads, shelters, and many other human-made or robot-made infrastructures.

The assignment

The student will determine strength properties at low effective stress in the project on two Lunar regolith simulants and one Martian regolith simulant. Tests will need to be conducted under monotonic and cyclic loads.

Additional effects such as over-consolidation and fines contents will be considered. The proposed research is mainly lab-based, meaning the student(s) must perform laboratory tests at NGI in Oslo.