NASA starts new lunar lander plume test phase

(SpaceEnergy) NASA has begun a new phase of lunar lander plume-surface interaction testing at its Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, USA, to improve models used for Moon landing-system design.

Researchers recently began firing an ethane plume simulation system into a 6.5ft-diameter, 1ft-deep bed of simulated lunar regolith inside Langley’s 60ft vacuum sphere. The system generates about 445N of thrust and was designed by NASA’s Stennis Space Center and built and operated by Purdue University.

Instrumentation is measuring crater formation, ejecta-sheet geometry, particle distribution and regolith-particle velocity during tests lasting about six seconds. The campaign is intended to provide data for predicting how rocket exhaust interacts with lunar soil and how ejected material could affect landers, payloads, rovers and other surface infrastructure.

A second test phase planned for later this year will use a 14in 3D-printed hybrid rocket motor developed at Utah State University and previously tested at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The motor produces about 156N of thrust using solid propellant and gaseous oxygen.

NASA said the modular test configuration could later be adapted for Mars landing studies by substituting Martian regolith simulant and adjusting chamber pressure.