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5 Physical Sciences Research on the Lunar Surface
5 Physical Sciences Research on the Lunar Surface
Pages 24-29
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From page 24... ...
For example, he noted, the 2011 National Research Council report Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Research for a New Era1 called for fire safety research aimed at improving methods for screening materials for flammability and fire suppression in space environments. Specifically, NASA is interested in understanding combustion in low gravity because of its implications for fire safety aboard space vehicles and in other space-related environments, such as the surface of the Moon.
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From page 25... ...
In one mode, the experiment will be carried out with the oxygen level kept approximately constant for flammability tests. In another, no additional oxygen will be added after ignition, and the plastic rods will be allowed to burn until the flame goes out to determine the lowest oxygen level at which the flame can be maintained.
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From page 26... ...
Daniels described two examples of the sort of fundamental physics questions concerning granular material that physicists are interested in. One is how gravity affects mechanical rigidity and the speed of sound in granular materials.
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From page 27... ...
Under Earth's gravity, granular materials settle quickly, and van der Waals forces and electric charges on particles are typically significant only for very fine powders, where the grains are less than 10 microns in diameter. On the Moon, by contrast, regolith dust tends to stick to everything (because of the greater role played by van der Waals forces)
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From page 28... ...
This represents breaking with a philosophy that has dominated NASA's thinking for the past 50–60 years, he said. If risk-taking proves successful with the CLPS program, he said, "it may open up that paradigm, more broadly, for NASA as well." PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH POSSIBILITIES ON THE LUNAR SURFACE Neal, the final speaker of the day, wrapped up the presentations with a talk that included discussion of research in both the physical and biological sciences.
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From page 29... ...
In particular, he displayed a long list of NASA research objectives; researchers interested in participating in the CLPS program could design experiments that offered insight into any of these objectives. The 21 objectives he listed included such things as investigate and characterize the fundamental interactions of combustion and buoyant convection in lunar gravity, study the behavior of granular media in the lunar environment, investigate the production of oxygen from lunar regolith in lunar gravity, study and assess the effects on materials of long-duration exposure to the lunar environment, assess the effect on plants of long-duration exposure to the lunar environment, study the fundamental biological and physical effects of the integrated lunar environment on human health and the fundamental biological processes and subsystems upon which health depends, and study the effects of lunar radiation on biological model systems.
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