Development of a chamber to simulate lunar surface environment

Abstract Any in-situ experiment planned to probe lunar surface/sub-surface properties requires a prior knowledge of their behavior on the Moon. For this purpose, a small chamber/facility for carrying out experiments, in particular for understanding lunar thermo-physical behavior, in a simulated lunar environment (pressure and temperatures) is designed and its performance has been evaluated. A soil stratum of 10–20 cm similar to the top layer of lunar surface can be simulated using this chamber. Two novelties of this setup are 1. A provision to heat/cool a copper platform inside the chamber, to simulate lunar day/night temperatures in the soil stratum, through a copper road; 2. A perforated sample holder to efficiently degas trapped gases in the sample stratum. The basic motivation of this work is to achieve a simulated environment close to that of the Moon and to carryout experiments with a limited sample size and sensors to understand the thermo-physical behavior of the outermost lunar surface. Several experiments were carried out using the chamber to demonstrate its capability. Thermal conductivity measurements under vacuum were carried in a soil stratum with this setup to demonstrate its temperature dependence. With minor modifications, the same chamber can also be used for similar other experiments.