Developing an Experimental Test Bed for Drilling into Lunar Regolith Simulants

Understanding the physical and mechanical properties of the lunar regolith is critical for various human operations to establish a permanent presence on the Moon. In this paper, an experimental test bed was designed and constructed to simulate the process of drilling into lunar regolith simulants. The developed test bed is composed of a loading frame, linear motion assembly, sliding plate, rotary drilling tool, cylindrical regolith container, and Plexiglass protector. The test bed is adaptable for drilling experiments with different shapes and configurations of drilling bits. The test bed is employed to study the mechanical responses of lunar regolith simulants during the drilling process, and the preliminary results for the tip and friction resistance along the depth are obtained. The test bed provides a useful experimental setup for future endeavors to develop new drilling tools to characterize the in situ properties of lunar regolith.