For the Artemis III mission, astronauts will travel to lunar orbit in the Orion spacecraft and then dock with the lander system to descend to the Moon’s surface.
As a lander’s engines fire to slow down before landing, the powerful rocket exhaust plumes will interact with the hazardous lunar soil called regolith.
This process might create craters and unstable ground directly beneath it, also launching lunar soil particles at high speeds in multiple directions.
The lunar regolith could pose potential risks to the crew, lander, payloads, and future infrastructure placed on the lunar surface.
To unravel the complexities of this exhaust’s interaction with the lunar surface, the NASA team is conducting tests using this hybrid rocket motor.