Geotechnical properties of uncompacted DNA-1A lunar simulant

Understanding the mechanical behaviour of lunar regolith is of great importance to address the building of structures on the Moon, as well as for predicting the response of some equipments or facilities interacting with the lunar soil (i.e. rovers). Since the amount of lunar regolith samples on Earth is quite low due to the difficulties to bring it back during space missions, in the last decades researchers started to develop similar materials, usually named lunar regolith simulants. This paper reports the geotechnical characterization of DNA “De NoArtri” lunar simulant carried out in the laboratory. Compositional analyses and mechanical tests have been carried out to characterize this simulant: particle-size distribution analysis, chemical analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis have been performed, to identify the DNA-1A from a compositional point of view, as well as triaxial compression tests, direct shear tests and oedometer tests for depicting its mechanical behaviour, with some comparison with the original lunar soil and other simulants.