SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
The Deep Impact project completed its mission on July 4, 2005 with a spectacularly successful encounter with the comet Tempel 1, culminating a four-year development effort and a six-month cruise period. The project's primary purpose was to conduct what can be considered a simple experiment that occurs in space on a very frequent basis: to impact a cometary nucleus with a man made meteor and excavate a crater to reveal the interior of a nucleus.
Radar measurements at 70 cm and 7.5 m wavelengths provide insight into the structure and chemical properties of the upper 5-100 m of the lunar regolith and crust. Past work has identified a number of anomalous regions and changes in echo strength, some attributed to differences in titanium content. There has been little opportunity, however, to compare calibrated long-wavelength backscatter among different units or to theoretical model results. We combine recent high-resolution (3-5 km) 70-cm radar data for the nearside with earlier calibrated full-disk observations to provide a reasonable estimate of the true lunar backscatter coefficient. These data are tested against models for quasi-specular scattering from the surface, echoes from a buried substrate, and Mie scattering from surface and buried rocks. We find that 70 cm echoes likely arise from Mie scattering by distributed rocks within the soil, consistent with earlier hypotheses. Returns from a buried substrate would provide a plausible fit to the observations only if the regolith depth were approx.3 m or less and varied little across the maria. Depolarized echoes are due to some combination of single and multiple scattering events, but it appears that single scattering alone could account for the observed echo power, based on comparisons with terrestrial rocky surfaces. Backscatter strength from the regolith is most strongly affected by the loss tangent, whose variation with mineral content is still poorly defined. We compared the backscatter values for the mare deposits to the oxide contents inferred from spectral ratio methods, and found that in general the unit boundaries evident in radar images closely follow those seen in color difference images. The 70-cm data are not well correlated with TiO2 values found using the Charette relationship nor with Fe abundances derived from Clementine observations. The lack of a relationship between radar echo and Fe content is reasonable given the distribution of iron among various mineral phases, but ilmenite content (FeTiO3) has typically been cited as the dominant cause of changes in loss tangent (and thus the radar absorption). The lack of correlation between the radar data and TiO2 estimates may arise from uncertainties in the Charette technique, subtle differences in the upper surface and bulk properties of the regolith, mineralogic effects on the radar not linked to titanium content, or to some combination of these factors. Dark crater haloes in the mare and highlands, and low radar returns from apparent cryptomare regions, are used to illustrate the role radar data can play in identifying changes in regolith composition; low-return haloes around craters such as Petavius may indicate 5-25% contamination of the highlands soil by excavated mare material or a layer of rock-poor ejecta at least several meters deep. The 7.5-m data were shown to correlate to a reasonable degree with estimates of Fe abundance, suggesting that this component of the mare basalts is primarily responsible for attenuation losses at very long wavelengths. The different sensitivities of the two radar wavelengths and multispectral data offers the potential for future deep mapping of the mare lava flows and regolith.
After sol 511 of its mission in Gusev Crater, Spirit traversed from the top of Husband Hill to its current Winter Haven on Low Ridge. M ssbauer analyses of several rock and soil targets along the traverse yielded further evidence for the wide-spread occurrence of aqueous processes in the Columbia Hills. The rock Independence was found on the flank of Husband Hill. It has low total Fe with about 24-30 % of its iron in ilmenite. This assemblage implies alteration under aqueous conditions; some phases were altered and elements such as Fe were leached out, while less soluble Fe-bearing phases such as ilmenite remain. The soil target Dead_Sea_Samra was found in subsurface soil revealed when the wheels dug into soil during the traverse from Husband Hill to Home Plate. Its M ssbauer spectrum shows a high abundance of ferric sulfate, similar to the Paso Robles soil targets found on Husband Hill. At its current location at Winter Haven Spirit investigated the target Halley which appears to be part of a wider-spread indurated layer underlying basaltic soil. This target shows the highest abundance of hematite in all Gusev soil and rock targets investigated to date. Opportunity at Meridiani Planum traversed from the 300 m diameter buried Erebus Crater towards 800 m Victoria Crater. The main components of Meridiani Planum jarosite-bearing outcrop rocks, basaltic soil, and a hematite lag remain remarkably constant in M ssbauer spectra throughout the traverse. Cobbles (rock fragments greater than 1 cm) show variability however. A meteorite (Barberton) has been identified based on kamacite peaks in the M ssbauer spectrum. Other cobbles show Mossbauer spectra similar to jarosite-bearing outcrops, or to basaltic rock, or mixtures thereof, suggesting an origin as impact breccias. Some cobbles were investigated at the edge of the annulus of Victoria Crater from which they may have been excavated. Mossbauer spectra reveal a basaltic signature, dominated by olivine and pyroxene. In general for both rovers the radioactive Mossbauer source became naturally weaker, but both instruments are still able to perform good quality measurements.
One of the most promising means of learning how initial impact conditions are related to the processes leading to the formation of a planetary-scale crater is through scaling relationships.1,2,3 The first phase of deriving such relationships has led to great insight into the cratering process and has yielded predictive capabilities that are mathematically rigorous and internally consistent. Such derivations typically have treated targets as continuous media; in many, cases, however, planetary materials represent irregular and discontinuous targets, the effects of which on the scaling relationships are still poorly understood.4,5 We continue to examine the effects of varying impact conditions on the excavation and final dimensions of craters formed in sand. Along with the more commonly treated variables such as impact speed, projectile size and material, and impact angle,6 such experiments also permit the study of changing granularity and friction angle of the target materials. This contribution presents some of the data collected during and after the impact of glass spheres into a medium-grained sand.
Light-toned, subsurface soil deposits have been excavated by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit in six distinct locations along its traverse across the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater. Samples at two of these sites have been analyzed in detail by the M ssbauer (MB) and Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometers (APXS), providing information on iron mineralogy and elemental chemistry, respectively. These soils are referred to as "Paso Robles" class deposits.
Nearly a decade ago the DOD Clementine lunar orbital mission obtained data indicating that the permanently shaded regions at the lunar poles may have permanently frozen water in the lunar soil. Currently NASA's Robotic Lunar Exploration Program, RLEP-2, is planned to land at the lunar pole to determine if water is present. The detection and extraction of water from the permanently frozen permafrost is an important goal for NASA. Extraction of water from lunar permafrost has a high priority in the In-Situ Resource Utilization, ISRU, community for human life support and as a fuel. The use of microwave processing would permit the extraction of water without the need to dig, drill, or excavate the lunar surface. Microwave heating of regolith is potentially faster and more efficient than any other heating methods due to the very low thermal conductivity of the lunar regolith. Also, microwaves can penetrate into the soil permitting water removal from deep below the lunar surface. A cryogenic vacuum test facility was developed for evaluating the use of microwave heating and water extraction from a lunar regolith permafrost simulant. Water is obtained in a cryogenic cold trap even with soil conditions below 0 C. The results of microwave extraction of water experiments will be presented.
The FY 2005 CDDF projects were selected from the following spaceport and range technology and science areas: fluid system technologies; spaceport structures and materials; command, control, and monitoring technologies; and biological sciences (including support for environmental stewardship). The FY 2005 CDDF research projects involved development of the following: a) Capacitance-based moisture sensors to optimize plant growth in reduced gravity; b) Commodity-free calibration methods; c) Application of atmospheric plasma glow discharge to alter the surface properties of polymers for improved electrostatic dissipation characteristics; d) A wipe-on, wipe-off chemical process to remove lead oxides found in paint; e) A robust metabolite profiling platform for better understanding the "law" of biological regulation; f) An explanation of the excavation processes that occur when a jet of gas impinges on a bed of sand; g) "Smart coatings" to detect and control corrosion at an early stage to prevent further corrosion h) A model that can produce a reliable diagnosis of the quality of a software product; i) The formulation of advanced materials to meet system safety needs to minimize electrostatic charges, flammability, and radiation exposure; j) A lab-based instrument that uses the electro-optic Pockels effect to make static electric fields visible; k) A passive volatile organic compound (VOC) cartridge to filter, identify, and quantify VOCs flowing into or emanating from plant flight experiments.
A method that produces a uniformly rubblized oil shale bed of desirable porosity for underground, in-situ heat extraction of oil. Rubblization is the generation of rubble of various sized fragments. The method uses explosive loadings lying at different levels in adjacent holes and detonation of the explosives at different levels in sequence to achieve the fracturing and the subsequent expansion of the fractured oil shale into excavated rooms both above and below the hole pattern.
Since the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) was released in 2004, NASA, in conjunction with international space agencies, industry, and academia, has continued to define and refine plans for sustained and affordable robotic and human exploration of the Moon and beyond. With the goal of establishing a lunar Outpost on the Moon to extend human presence, pursue scientific activities, use the Moon to prepare for future human missions to Mars, and expand Earth s economic sphere, a change in how space exploration is performed is required. One area that opens up the possibility for the first time of breaking our reliance on Earth supplied consumables and learn to live off the land is In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). ISRU, which involves the extraction and processing of space resources into useful products, can have a substantial impact on mission and architecture concepts. In particular, the ability to make propellants, life support consumables, and fuel cell reagents can significantly reduce the cost, mass, and risk of sustained human activities beyond Earth. However, ISRU is an unproven capability for human lunar exploration and can not be put in the critical path of lunar Outpost success until it has been proven. Therefore, ISRU development and deployment needs to take incremental steps toward the desired end state. To ensure ISRU capabilities are available for pre-Outpost and Outpost deployment by 2020, and mission and architecture planners are confident that ISRU can meet initial and long term mission requirements, the ISRU Project is developing technologies and systems in three critical areas: (1) Regolith Excavation, Handling and Material Transportation; (2) Oxygen Extraction from Regolith; and (3) Volatile Extraction and Resource Prospecting, and in four development stages: (I) Demonstrate feasibility; (II) Evolve system w/ improved technologies; (III) Develop one or more systems to TRL 6 before start of flight development; and (IV) Flight development for Outpost. To minimize cost and ensure that ISRU technologies, systems, and functions are integrated properly into the Outpost, technology development efforts are being coordinated with other development areas such as Surface Mobility, Surface Power, Life Support, EVA, and Propulsion. Lastly, laboratory and field system-level tests and demonstrations will be performed as often as possible to demonstrate improvements in: Capabilities (ex. digging deeper); Performance (ex. lower power); and Duration (ex. more autonomy or more robustness). This presentation will provide the status of work performed to date within the NASA ISRU project with respect to technology and system development and field demonstration activities, as well as the current strategy to implement ISRU in future robotic and human lunar exploration missions.
Nearly 50% of the lunar surface is oxygen, present as oxides in silicate rocks and soil. Methods for reduction of these oxides could liberate the oxygen. Remote sensing has provided evidence of significant quantities of hydrogen possibly indicating hundreds of millions of metric tons, MT, of water at the lunar poles. If the presence of lunar water is verified, water is likely to be the first in situ resource exploited for human exploration and for LOX-H2 rocket fuel. In-Situ lunar resources offer unique advantages for space operations. Each unit of product produced on the lunar surface represents 6 units that need not to be launched into LEO. Previous studies have indicated the economic advantage of LOX for space tugs from LEO to GEO. Use of lunar derived LOX in a reusable lunar lander would greatly reduce the LEO mass required for a given payload to the moon. And Lunar LOX transported to L2 has unique advantages for a Mars mission. Several methods exist for extraction of oxygen from the soil. But, extraction of lunar water has several significant advantages. Microwave heating of lunar permafrost has additional important advantages for water extraction. Microwaves penetrate and heat from within not just at the surface and excavation is not required. Proof of concept experiments using a moon in a bottle concept have demonstrated that microwave processing of cryogenic lunar permafrost simulant in a vacuum rapidly and efficiently extracts water by sublimation. A prototype lunar water extraction rover was built and tested for heating of simulant. Microwave power was very efficiently delivered into a simulated lunar soil. Microwave dielectric properties (complex electric permittivity and magnetic permeability) of lunar regolith simulant, JSC-1A, were measured down to cryogenic temperatures and above room temperature. The microwave penetration has been correlated with the measured dielectric properties. Since the microwave penetration depth is a function of temperature and frequency, an extraction system can be designed for water removal from different depths.
Boulder morphology reflects both lithology and climate and is dictated by the combined effects of erosion, transport, and weathering. At present, morphologic information at the boulder scale is underutilized as a recorder of environmental processes, partly because of the lack of a systematic quantitative parameter set for reporting and comparing data sets. We develop such a parameter set, incorporating a range of measures of boulder form and surface texture. We use standard shape metrics measured in the field and fractal and morphometric classification methods borrowed from landscape analysis and applied to laser-scanned molds. The parameter set was pilot tested on three populations of basalt boulders with distinct breakdown histories in the Channeled Scabland, Washington: (1) basalt outcrop talus; (2) flood-transported boulders recently excavated from a quarry; and (3) flood-transported boulders, extensively weathered in situ on the Ephrata Fan surface. Size and shape data were found to distinguish between flood-transported and untransported boulders. Size and edge angles (approximately 120 degrees) of flood-transported boulders suggest removal by preferential fracturing along preexisting columnar joints, and curvature data indicate rounding relative to outcrop boulders. Surface textural data show that boulders which have been exposed at the surface are significantly rougher than those buried by fan sediments. Past signatures diagnostic of flood transport still persist on surface boulders, despite ongoing overprinting by processes in the present breakdown environment through roughening and fracturing in situ. Further use of this quantitative boulder parameter set at other terrestrial and planetary sites will aid in cataloging and understanding morphologic signatures of environmental processes.
Devices for lifting, translating and precisely placing payloads are critical for efficient Earthbased construction operations. Both recent and past studies have demonstrated that devices with similar functionality will be needed to support lunar outpost operations. Lunar payloads include: a) prepackaged hardware and supplies which must be unloaded from landers and then accurately located at their operational site, b) sensor packages used for periodic inspection of landers, habitat surfaces, etc., and c) local materials such as regolith which require grading, excavation and placement. Although several designs have been developed for Earth based applications, these devices lack unique design characteristics necessary for transport to and use on the harsh lunar surface. These design characteristics include: a) composite components, b) compact packaging for launch, c) simple in-field reconfiguration and repair, and d) support for tele-operated or automated operations. Also, in contrast to Earth-based construction, where special purpose devices dominate a construction site, a lunar outpost will require versatile devices which provide operational benefit from initial construction through sustained operations. This paper will detail the design of a unique, high performance, versatile lifting device designed for operations on the lunar surface. The device is called the Lunar Surface Manipulation System to highlight the versatile nature of the device which supports conventional cable suspended crane operations as well as operations usually associated with a manipulator such as precise positioning where the payload is rigidly grappled by a tool attached to the tip of the device. A first generation test-bed to verify design methods and operational procedures is under development at the NASA Langley Research Center and recently completed field tests at Moses Lake Washington. The design relied on non-linear finite element analysis which is shown to correlate favorably with laboratory experiments. A key design objective, reviewed in this paper, is the device s simplicity, resulting from a focus on the minimum set of functions necessary to perform payload offload. Further development of the device has the potential for significant mass savings, with a high performance device incorporating composite elements estimated to have a mass less than 3% of the mass of the maximum lunar payload lifted at the tip. The paper will conclude with future plans for expanding the operational versatility of the device.
Essential consumables like oxygen must to be produced from materials on the lunar surface to enable a sustained, long-term presence of humans on the Moon. The Outpost Precursor for ISRU and Modular Architecture (OPTIMA) field test on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, facilitated by the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, was designed to test the implementation of three hardware concepts to extract oxygen from the lunar regolith: Precursor ISRU Lunar Oxygen Testbed (PILOT) developed by Lockheed Martin in Littleton, CO; Regolith & Environmental Science and Oxygen & Lunar Volatiles Extraction (RESOLVE) developed at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL; and ROxygen developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. The three concepts differ in design, but all rely on the same general principle: hydrogen reduction of metal cations (primarily Fe2+) bonded to oxygen to metal (e.g., Fe0) with the production of water. The hydrogen source is residual hydrogen in the fuel tanks of lunar landers. Electrolysis of the water produces oxygen and hydrogen (which is recycled). We used the miniaturized M ssbauer spectrometer MIMOS II to quantify the yield of this process on the basis of the quantity of Fe0 produced. Iron M ssbauer spectroscopy identifies iron-bearing phases, determines iron oxidation states, and quantifies the distribution of iron between mineral phases and oxidation states. The oxygen yield can be calculated by quantitative measurements of the distribution of Fe among oxidation states in the regolith before and after hydrogen reduction. A M ssbauer spectrometer can also be used as a prospecting tool to select the optimum feedstock for the oxygen production plants (e.g., high total Fe content and easily reduced phases). As a demonstration, a MIMOS II backscatter spectrometer (SPESI, Germany) was mounted on the Cratos rover (NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH), which is one of several rover concepts designed to excavate and transfer regolith to the stationary hydrogen reduction plants. Spaceflight versions of the MIMOS II are part of the instrument payloads of NASA s Mars Exploration Rovers and still operating five years after landing on the surface of the planet. MIMOS II was also selected for Phobos-Grunt, a Russian sample return mission to the martian moon Phobos scheduled to launch in 2009, and ESA s ExoMars rover, an exobiology mission scheduled to launch in 2013. An advanced version of the instrument is currently under development. A new detector system with a higher energy resolution will not only reduce the necessary measurement time considerably, but also allow the simultaneous acquisition of an X-ray fluorescence spectrum to determine the elemental composition of samples.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), in conjunction with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is implementing a new data acquisition strategy to support the development and evaluation of lunar regolith simulants. The objective is to characterize the variance in particle composition, size, shape, and bulk density of the lunar regolith. Apollo drive and drill cores are the preferred samples as they allow for investigation of variation with depth, and many proposed operations on the moon will involve excavation of lunar regolith to depths of at least tens of centimeters. Multiple Apollo cores will be sampled multiple times along their vertical axes and analyzed. This will permit statistical statements about variation both within a core, between closely spaced cores, and between distant areas.
The Space Exploration Policy enacted by the US Congress in 2005 calls for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to implement a sustained and affordable human and robotic program to explore the solar system and beyond; Extend human presence across the solar system, starting with a human return to the Moon by the year 2020, in preparation for human exploration of Mars and other destinations; Develop the innovative technologies, knowledge, and infrastructures both to explore and to support decisions about the destinations for human exploration; and Promote international and commercial participation in exploration to further U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests. In 2006, NASA released the Lunar Architecture Study, which proposed establishing a lunar Outpost on the Moon with international participation to extend human presence beyond Earth's orbit, pursue scientific activities, use the Moon to prepare for future human missions to Mars, and expand Earth s economic sphere. The establishment of sustained human presence on the Moon for science and exploration combines the design, integration, and operation challenges experienced from both the short Apollo lunar missions and the build-up and sustained crew operations of the International Space Station (ISS). Apollo experience reminds developers and mission planners that hardware must operate under extremely harsh environmental and abrasive conditions and every kilogram of mass and payload must be critical to achieve the mission s objectives due to the difficulty and cost of reaching the lunar surface. Experience from the ISS reminds developers and mission planners that integration of all hardware must be designed and planned from the start of the program, operations and evolution of capabilities on a continuous basis are important, and long-term life-cycle costs and logistical needs are equally or more important than minimizing early development and test costs. Overarching all of this is the need to implement efforts that are sustainable and affordable. One area NASA is developing that can significantly change how systems required for sustained human presence are designed and integrated, as well as potentially break our reliance on Earth supplied logistics, is In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). ISRU, also known living off the land, involves the extraction and processing of local resources into useful products. In particular, the ability to make propellants, life support consumables, fuel cell reagents, and radiation shielding can significantly reduce the cost, mass, and risk of sustained human activities beyond Earth. Also, the ability to modify the lunar landscape for safer landing, transfer of payloads from the lander an outpost, dust generation mitigation, and infrastructure placement and buildup are also extremely important for long-term lunar operations. While extra-terrestrial excavation, material handling and processing, and site preparation and construction may be new to NASA and other space agencies, there is extensive terrestrial hardware and commercial experience that can be leveraged. This paper will provide an overview of current NASA activities in lunar ISRU mining and construction and how terrestrial experience in these areas are important to achieving the goal of affordable and sustainable human exploration.
To sustain affordable human and robotic space exploration, the ability to live off the land at the exploration site will be essential. NASA calls this ability in situ resource utilization (ISRU) and is focusing on finding ways to sustain missions first on the Moon and then on Mars. The ISRU project aims to develop capabilities to technology readiness level 6 for the Robotic Lunar Exploration Program and early human missions returning to the Moon. NASA is concentrating on three primary areas of ISRU: (1) excavating, handling, and moving lunar regolith, (2) extracting oxygen from lunar regolith, and (3) finding, characterizing, extracting, separating, and storing volatile lunar resources, especially in the permanently shadowed polar craters. To meet the challenges related to technology development for these three primary focus areas, the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) project was initiated in February 2005, through funding by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. RESOLVE's objectives are to develop requirements and conceptual designs and to perform breadboard concept verification testing of each experiment module. The final goal is to deliver a flight prototype unit that has been tested in a relevant lunar polar environment. Here we report progress toward the third primary area creating ways to find, characterize, extract, separate, and store volatile lunar resources. The tasks include studying thermal, chemical, and electrical ways to collect such volatile resources as hydrogen, water, nitrogen, methane, and ammonia. We approached this effort through two subtasks: lunar water resource demonstration (LWRD) and regolith volatile characterization (RVC).
Each of the six Apollo landers touched down at unique sites on the lunar surface. Aside from the Apollo 12 landing site located 180 meters from the Surveyor III lander, plume impingement effects on ground hardware during the landings were not a problem. The planned return to the Moon requires numerous landings at the same site. Since the top few centimeters of lunar soil are loosely packed regolith, plume impingement from the lander will eject the granular material at high velocities. A picture shows what the astronauts viewed from the window of the Apollo 14 lander. There was tremendous dust excavation beneath the vehicle. With high-vacuum conditions on the Moon (10 (exp -14) to 10 (exp -12) torr), motion of all particles is completely ballistic. Estimates derived from damage to Surveyor III caused by the Apollo 12 lander show that the speed of the ejected regolith particles varies from 100 m/s to 2,000 m/s. It is imperative to understand the physics of plume impingement to safely design landing sites for future Moon missions. Aerospace scientists and engineers have examined and analyzed images from Apollo video extensively in an effort to determine the theoretical effects of rocket exhaust impingement. KSC has joined the University of Central Florida (UCF) to develop an instrument that will measure the 3-D vector of dust flow caused by plume impingement during descent of landers. The data collected from the instrument will augment the theoretical studies and analysis of the Apollo videos.
Excavating granular materials beneath a vertical jet of gas involves several physical mechanisms. These occur, for example, beneath the exhaust plume of a rocket landing on the soil of the Moon or Mars. We performed a series of experiments and simulations (Figure 1) to provide a detailed view of the complex gas-soil interactions. Measurements taken from the Apollo lunar landing videos (Figure 2) and from photographs of the resulting terrain helped demonstrate how the interactions extrapolate into the lunar environment. It is important to understand these processes at a fundamental level to support the ongoing design of higher fidelity numerical simulations and larger-scale experiments. These are needed to enable future lunar exploration wherein multiple hardware assets will be placed on the Moon within short distances of one another. The high-velocity spray of soil from the landing spacecraft must be accurately predicted and controlled or it could erode the surfaces of nearby hardware. This analysis indicated that the lunar dust is ejected at an angle of less than 3 degrees above the surface, the results of which can be mitigated by a modest berm of lunar soil. These results assume that future lunar landers will use a single engine. The analysis would need to be adjusted for a multiengine lander. Figure 3 is a detailed schematic of the Lunar Module camera calibration math model. In this chart, formulas relating the known quantities, such as sun angle and Lunar Module dimensions, to the unknown quantities are depicted. The camera angle PSI is determined by measurement of the imaged aspect ratio of a crater, where the crater is assumed to be circular. The final solution is the determination of the camera calibration factor, alpha. Figure 4 is a detailed schematic of the dust angle math model, which again relates known to unknown parameters. The known parameters now include the camera calibration factor and Lunar Module dimensions. The final computation is the ejected dust angle, as a function of Lunar Module altitude.