Effects of Extraterrestrial Gravity on Soil Fluidization Imposed by an Ultrasonic Probe
NASA TechPort describes this completed Flight Opportunities project as a study of forced resonant vibration to fluidize soil around a probe or shovel, reducing penetration forces for extraterrestrial mining and prospecting. A 2024 parabolic-flight campaign with NASA Glenn Research Center and Concordia University tested an ultrasonically vibrating blade in lunar and Martian regolith simulant; subsequent results reported gravity-dependent force reduction and implications for low-power lunar excavation tools.
Identity
- Aliases
- Ultrasonic Blade Flight ExperimentUltrasonic BladeUBF
- Domains
- spaceflight
- Name
- Effects of Extraterrestrial Gravity on Soil Fluidization Imposed by an Ultrasonic Probe
- Status
- completed
- Types
- developmentresearch
Details
- Description
- NASA TechPort describes this completed Flight Opportunities project as a study of forced resonant vibration to fluidize soil around a probe or shovel, reducing penetration forces for extraterrestrial mining and prospecting. A 2024 parabolic-flight campaign with NASA Glenn Research Center and Concordia University tested an ultrasonically vibrating blade in lunar and Martian regolith simulant; subsequent results reported gravity-dependent force reduction and implications for low-power lunar excavation tools.
- End Date
- 2025-09-30
- Leads
- Participants
- -
- Start Date
- 2023-08-01
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 14, 2026 at 06:40:46 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 14, 2026 at 06:40:46 UTC
Other
- Official Urls
- https://techport.nasa.gov/projects/155242https://www.nasa.gov/stmd-flight-opportunities/fo-resources/community-of-practice-webinars/april-2025/https://www.concordia.ca/cunews/stories/2024/07/02/concordia-master-s-student-and-research-assistant-join-nasa-on-a-parabolic-flight-experiment.htmlhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.07.049