regolith

"Over the next few months, we will focus on understanding the complex regolith at Nonta and infill sampling to vector in on targets for a possible RC drill campaign in late 2019 or early 2020.

"When we look at those planets in the sky and think there are cemeteries there; perhaps there are human bodies being incorporated into the lunar regolith or into the red Martian dust."    

Now, researchers from Harvard University have proposed an approach that could make portions of Mars habitable, and allow any future manned missions to grow food from the regolith. The approach uses existing technology, and is feasible right now.

During the competition, students faced a variety of challenges, including the abrasive characteristics of the basaltic regolith simulant, the weight and size limitations of the mining robot, and the ability to tele-operate it from a remote location.

Underneath this bone-dry top layer lies a thin transition layer, then a hydrated layer, where water molecules likely stick to bits of soil and rock, called regolith.

Researchers from Maryland University in the United States have discovered that the released water is sourced from a layer of 'regolith' that is buried a few centimetres below the surface.

More recently, they identified surface water in sparse populations of molecules bound to the lunar soil, or regolith. But, the amount and locations were found to vary based on the time of day.

Researchers determined that a meteoroid's collision with the surface of the Moon produces a shock wave that throws up regolith fragments and droplets of molten material into the surrounding free space.

The first Prospector was demonstrated driving and drilling in Lunar regolith simulant at the Colorado School of Mines' new lunar testbed facility in the Earth Mechanics Institute overseen by the Center for Space Resources.

Key evidence also came from the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter's images of the Apollo landing sites, which showed that the places where the astronauts had traveled appeared darker, showing that they absorb more solar heat than the surrounding regolith. The finding may affect future Moon exploration.

Osiris-Rex - short forOrigins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorers- lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral, in 2016.