Perpustakaan Digital ITB

The surfaces of the Moon and Mars are covered by a loose layer of fragmented debris known as regolith. This fine, jagged, and highly complex granular material plays a critical role in various space exploration activities, including landing, drilling, sampling, and construction. However, the granular mechanics of the lunar and Martian regolith remain poorly understood, particularly under dynamic conditions such as impact events. This knowledge gap is further complicated by the low-gravity environments of these celestial bodies, which significantly affect regolith behavior. Addressing these gaps is vital for advancing future extraterrestrial exploration and resource utilization missions. This study investigates the behavior of lunar and Martian regolith under impact conditions through a combination of experimental and simulation-based approaches. Regolith simulants, including lunar highlands simulant (LHS-1), lunar mare simulant (LMS-1), and Martian regolith simulant (MGS-1), were used alongside terrestrial silica sand Tohoku Keisa No. 8 (T-8) for comparative analysis. A systematic analysis was undertaken to elucidate the influence of parameters, including the fall height of the projectile, impact velocity, kinetic energy of the projectile, porosity, cohesion, and internal friction angle, on the resulting crater depths. In addition to experiments, the discrete element method (DEM) was used to simulate the impact cratering process. The simulated granular layers were calibrated by comparison to experimental results. The simulation further explored cone penetration in calibrated layers under lunar and Martian gravity. The novelty of this study lies in integrating experimental data with simulations, which provided a comprehensive assessment of regolith behavior. These findings have important implications for future space missions, aiding in the design of efficient landing systems, excavation tools, and drilling technologies tailored to extraterrestrial environments.