The crewed modules land on the Moon using jet propulsion. However, the exhaust can form a considerable crater in the loose material, in which the vehicle can overturn. In order to understand whether the danger is real or not, NASA conducted a series of tests with the hybrid engine.
Jet engine and lunar regolith
Experiments are continuing at NASA to study the effects of the jet stream on loose lunar soil. Now more than 30 tests have already taken place at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on an engine printed on a 3D printer at the University of Utah.
In addition to representatives of the Space Administration, engineers from SpaceX and Blue Origin are participating in the study. Together, they are working on a problem revealed through experiences dating back to the days of the Apollo program.
Spacecraft modules land on the surface of the Moon on jet propulsion because the lack of atmosphere on our moon doesn’t leave them much choice. However, the jet from their engines, which is a stream of gases, is quite capable of moving some of the loose regolith.
Will this result in the formation of a crater into which the spacecraft will fall upon landing? That’s what engineers are trying to find out by conducting experiments in a laboratory environment where lunar soil has been recreated.
Hybrid engine
This task is not as simple as it may seem, because you need to reproduce all this in a limited space, and a rocket engine is a powerful and dangerous equipment. This is why a hybrid variant is used in the experiments. It contains an element that simulates combustion of fuel in a chamber with reaction products escaping through a nozzle. However, the main thrust is created by the much safer flow of oxygen.
All experiments are being conducted as part of the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon. And the results of the tests should tell us how to do it more safely. By the way, they are not finished yet.
Now the engine and the entire experimental unit have to move to the Langley Research Center. There’s a huge vacuum chamber: a sphere 60 feet in diameter. That’s where the final stage of testing is to take place.
According to phys.org
