Experimental Study on Cutting Load of Simulated Lunar Soil Containing Ice

Abstract

The fourth phase of the lunar exploration project is planning to carry out lunar soil water ice drilling mission in the permanently shadowed area of the south pole of the Moon. It is of great significance to obtain the mechanical-soil mechanical properties of soil water ice in the deep low temperature environment for the development of mining and exploration tools. Facing the new research object of lunar soil water ice，simulated lunar soil with similar mineral composition and particle size to polar lunar soil water ice was prepared in this paper for cutting test. The liquid nitrogen bath cutting load test platform was first developed and the cutting test conditions of deep-low temperature lunar soil water ice simulators were established. On this basis，the cutting load tests of lunar soil water ice simulators were carried out. The cutting load data under different cutting depth，different sample temperatures and different sample water content were obtained，which can provide reference for the development of drilling sampling machine.

Keywords

lunar polar region / simulated lunar soil containing ice / low temperature platform / cutting test