|
|
|
Uni Works with NASA on Lunar Soils
UniNews Vol. 15 (19) 16 - 30 October 2006. Reprinted with permission
|
|
|
|
Mathematicians from the University of Melbourne are on the NASA
team unlocking the secrets of Martian and lunar soils.
http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_3775.html
The
Melbourne researchers and students are using complex mathematical modelling and
simulated materials to determine how Mars and Moon surface soil – known as
regolith – would react to attempts to drill, dig or build on it. Led by Dr
Antoinette Tordesillas from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the
researchers and students are the only Australians on the NASA space soil team.
The knowledge gained from modelling common granular materials on earth, such as
sand and gravel, will also be used to inform their study. “There are literally
millions of particles in any handful of granular material. They are often of
different shapes and totally unpredictable,” Dr Tordesillas says. Simulated Mars
and lunar soils have been manufactured to have the same mineral and geometrical
properties as those NASA expects to find, based on observations from photographs
and detailed information sent back to Earth by space rovers. Dr Tordesillas and
postgraduate student Maya Muthuswamy brought the soil simulants back to
Melbourne after a research visit to NASA earlier in the year.
US President George Bush has decreed that NASA will make extended human missions
to the Moon by 2020, and live and work there for periods of time. Human travel
to Mars will also occur in the near future. Collaborating with researchers at
NASA and US universities, the University of Melbourne researchers will use
computer modelling to determine how both the individual grains and masses of
different soils will react under pressure. Dr Tordesillas says the research
poses a great challenge for mathematicians, scientists and engineers worldwide.
“The dynamics of granular materials such as sand, soil and gravel are still
largely unknown here on Earth, let alone in a space environment where gravity is
greatly reduced,” she said. “We know a lot about the behaviour of liquids, gases
and solids but we know very little about granular materials even though they are
an integral part of nearly all our major industries. Granular processing
operates at very low efficiency levels – typically no more than 60 per cent of
design capacity – a far cry from fluids processing which operates on average at
above 96 per cent. This costs industries billions of dollars each year. Due to
this lack of understanding, we allow large margins for error when we build
structures on Earth – but we will not have this luxury on the Moon and Mars
where the margin of safety on virtually all aspects of exploration is
considerably less. It is also very difficult and expensive to transport
materials and equipment to the Moon and Mars. We can’t just pop over there if
something breaks down: to haul a pint of water to the Moon will cost you around
$US10 000.”
Dr Tordesillas says the research project is a great opportunity for University
of Melbourne students to get involved in cutting edge research from as early as
undergraduate level. The University of Melbourne has received a $92 000 grant
for a collaborative research project with North Carolina’s Duke University and
NASA under the Australian Research Council International Linkage grant scheme.