Work led by the university’s Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources is focusing on how to better understand and measure the mechanical properties of lunar soil or regolith using cone penetrometers, devices commonly used in civil engineering and mining to assess ground strength.
While penetrometers have previously been deployed on the moon, including during later Apollo missions, engineers encountered difficulties penetrating the surface sufficiently to gather reliable data. That limitation has driven renewed interest in adapting and improving the technology for future lunar missions.
PhD candidate Kārlis Šļumba said accurate ground data will be essential if future lunar infrastructure such as roads, landing pads and buildings is to be constructed safely and effectively.
“If we are building infrastructure, like buildings, roads or landing pads on the surface of the moon, we need to get as much information as we can like penetration resistance, density and layering,” Šļumba said.
Researchers have developed and tested a bespoke dynamic cone penetrometer designed to better handle the challenges of low-gravity, high-variability lunar environments. The system features adjustable cone sizes and variable hammering energy to improve penetration into harder subsurface layers.
The study, published in the journal Acta Astronautica, compared both static and dynamic cone penetrometer systems. While static systems are typically more precise under Earth conditions, the dynamic version allows for greater penetration by increasing hammer strike force – an advantage expected to be important in lunar regolith.
The experiments were conducted at the University of Adelaide’s Extraterrestrial Environmental Simulation (Exterres) laboratory, where researchers built a dedicated compaction chamber within a regolith test pit. Different cone designs and impact energies were trialled across a range of simulated lunar soil densities.
Šļumba said the findings could directly support the development of future lunar payloads and improve how mission planners interpret subsurface data gathered on the moon.
“The findings can be used directly for lunar payload development and the interpretation of results that will help with the construction of the future lunar base,” he said.
The research forms part of broader international efforts to move beyond short-term lunar exploration missions towards sustained infrastructure development on the moon, including landing systems, surface mobility networks and eventual permanent bases.
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