Investigations of the dynamical evolution of lunar ejecta
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Physics and Astronomy, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Fladeland, Logan
issued: 2022-10-19T19:09:50Z
issued: 2022
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Humanity is on course to return to the surface of the Moon within the next decade, with plans and aspirations of permanently crewed stations that could eventually become self-sustained through advancements of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). During NASA’s Apollo era, which saw the first and only humans step foot on the Moon, the issue of lunar dust rose to prominence as it was found to be quite abrasive and became coated on practically every type of material. Natural mechanisms have been discovered that can levitate lunar dust and soil above the surface, at times creating a faint haze around the Moon. Increasing lunar surface activity, including potential construction and mining operations, as well as a significant increase in landings and departures, could see large amounts of material artificially jettisoned, if proper mitigation techniques are not introduced. N-body simulations of 10,000 particles ejected from the Moon are performed using REBOUND to examine some of the different dynamical pathways available to material escaping the low lunar gravity. Particles that do not collide with the Moon or the Earth generally end up in orbit around the Earth or escape onto heliocentric orbits, with very few left orbiting the Moon after one year. A constant delivery of particles to the L1 and L2 Earth- Moon Lagrange points is seen, with sporadic activity at the three other Lagrange points. Moreover, the possibility of long-lived dust in the cis-lunar environment raises questions about how lunar activities will impact the night sky. To that end, the particles are projected onto the sky for an observer on Earth and the associated brightness is calculated.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/82902
note: Investigations of the Dynamical Evolution of Lunar EjectabyLogan FladelandB.Sc., Combined Honours Physics and Astronomy, The University of BritishColumbia, 2019A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENTOF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFMaster of ScienceinTHE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORALSTUDIES(Astronomy)The University of British Columbia(Vancouver)October 2022© Logan Fladeland, 2022The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Fac-ulty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled:Investigations of the Dynamical Evolution of Lunar Ejectasubmitted by Logan Fladeland in partial fulfillment of the requirements for thedegree of Master of Science in Astronomy.Examining Committee:Aaron Boley, UBC Physics and AstronomySupervisorJ.J. Kavelaars, NRC Canada and UBC Physics and AstronomySupervisory Committee MemberiiAbstractHumanity is on course to return to the surface of the Moon within the next decade,with plans and aspirations of permanently crewed stations that could eventually be-come self-sustained through advancements of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).During NASA’s Apollo era, which saw the first and only humans step foot on theMoon, the issue of lunar dust rose to prominence as it was found to be quite abra-sive and became coated on practically every type of material. Natural mechanismshave been discovered that can levitate lunar dust and soil above the surface, at timescreating a faint haze around the Moon. Increasing lunar surface activity, includingpotential construction and mining operations, as well as a significant increase inlandings and departures, could see large amounts of material artificially jettisoned,if proper mitigation techniques are not introduced. N-body simulations of 10,000particles ejected from the Moon are performed using REBOUND to examine someof the different dynamical pathways available to material escaping the low lunargravity. Particles that do not collide with the Moon…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2022-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0421326
language: eng
degree discipline: Astronomy
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Boley, Aaron
type: Text
type: Still Image
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82902