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28 March 2024
 
  » arxiv » 0909.3832

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Lunar Outgassing, Transient Phenomena & the Return to the Moon, II: Predictions and Tests for Outgassing/Regolith Interactions
Arlin P.S. Crotts ; Cameron Hummels ;
Date 21 Sep 2009
AbstractWe follow Paper I with predictions of how gas leaking through the lunar surface could influence the regolith, as might be observed via optical Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLPs) and related effects. We touch on several processes, but concentrate on low and high flow rate extremes, perhaps the most likely. We model explosive outgassing for the smallest gas overpressure at the regolith base that releases the regolith plug above it. This disturbance’s timescale and affected area are consistent with observed TLPs; we also discuss other effects. For slow flow, escape through the regolith is prolonged by low diffusivity. Water, found recently in deep magma samples, is unique among candidate volatiles, capable of freezing between the regolith base and surface, especially near the lunar poles. For major outgassing sites, we consider the possible accumulation of water ice. Over geological time ice accumulation can evolve downward through the regolith. Depending on gases additional to water, regolith diffusivity might be suppressed chemically, blocking seepage and forcing the ice zone to expand to larger areas, up to square km scales. Ice areas could reach large sizes near the poles. We propose an empirical path forward, wherein current and forthcoming technologies provides controlled, sensitive probes of outgassing. Understanding lunar volatiles seems promising in terms of resource exploitation for human exploration of the Moon and beyond, and offer interesting scientific goals in its own right, but many of these approaches should be practiced in a pristine lunar atmosphere, before significant confusing signals likely dominate when humans return to the Moon.
Source arXiv, 0909.3832
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