Geotechnical Research for spAce enVironments using an Innovative Tower Experiment

Introduction

As the number of space missions involving surface interactions increases, so does the need to understand the behaviour of planetary surfaces. The surface properties are crucial for human exploration and play a key role in the evolution of planetary bodies.

Current Techniques

In terrestrial geophysics and planetary exploration, two techniques are widely used for in-situ determination of soil mechanical properties:

1. Seismic sounding
2. Penetration testing

However, the GRAVITE PI hypothesizes that these techniques are not directly applicable for space exploration due to implicit assumptions that become invalid in low-gravity environments. This has resulted in erroneous interpretations of data from multiple space missions.

GRAVITE Laboratory

Whereas others use limited experimental data points, numerical simulations, or untested extrapolations, GRAVITE will build a unique high-performance, low and variable gravity laboratory. This facility will extensively explore, for the first time, the complex interactions between particle size, friction, and cohesion in the response of granular materials to both small and large deformations, under vacuum, and in reduced-gravity conditions.

Facility Capabilities

The GRAVITE facility will be capable of reaching gravity levels three orders of magnitude less than Earth’s gravity, in order to simulate small body surfaces. It will also finely adjust the gravity level of each individual experiment, bridging an existing gap in facilities and providing exceptional experimental data covering a wide range of gravity conditions.

Data and Applications

The GRAVITE data from two custom experiments will be used to:

1. Test the limits of existing theories
2. Validate new models accounting for previously unexplored regimes

As such, GRAVITE will provide the planetary science and exploration communities with much-needed models that can be used to predict and interpret the behaviour of extra-terrestrial surface materials. The results will have direct applications to current and future space missions that interact with planetary surfaces.