Hypervelocity Impact Performance of Biopolymer-Bound Soil Composites for Space Construction

Abstract

Establishing a lunar base requires the design and construction of infrastructure that can withstand the Moon’s hazardous environment. This study explores the effects of micrometeoroid impacts on a biopolymer-bound soil composite (BSC), a novel construction material that leverages in situ resource utilization to significantly reduce costs associated with resource transportation from Earth. Using a small fraction of biopolymer to bind regolith, BSC can be used to build radiation and micrometeoroid shielding for habitats, stable landing and launching pads, and pavements that help to contain dust. To determine the relationship between hypervelocity impacts and BSC material damage, 19 hypervelocity impact experiments were conducted on BSC targets. Analytical power-law relationships were derived to predict transient crater dimensions, such as volume and diameter, from projectile features, such as diameter, density, and velocity. The scaling exponents determined for BSC transient crater volume and diameter are comparable to those of quartzite, sandstone, and basalt and indicate that crater formation in BSC is largely driven by the kinetic energy of the projectile, as expected for cohesive low-porosity materials.