Team Angelicum Chile

“A reference to spacecraft design”
MOON ENVIRONMENT
JAIME ROBLES PARDO
PABLO SANDOVAL MEDINA
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
STUDENTS
University of Concepción, Chile
August, 2011

Contents
1. Introduction 4
2. Generalities about the moon 5
2.1. Day, night, seasons on the moon 7
3. Moon surface 8
3.1. Lunar Regolith 9
3.2. Dust 12
4. Moon Atmosphere 13
4.1. Moon Atmosphere Composition 14
4.2. Vacuum 15
5. Moon thermal environment 17
5.1. Thermal environment 17
5.2. Thermal cycling 18
5.3. Lunar surface Thermal regime 19
6. Magnetic and gravity field topics 21
6.1. Low gravity 21
6.2. Lunar Gravitational field 21
6.3. Solar wind 22
6.4. Surface Charging 23
6.5. Magnetotail 24
7. Radiation environment 26
7.1. Radiation environment 26
7.2. Earthshine 27
7.3. Reflected sunlight (visible and IR) 28
7.4. Lunar neutron albedo 29
8. Moon environment impact on spacecraft design 30
8.1. Degradation of materials and systems 30
8.2. Degradation of thermal control coatings 31
8.3. Dust presence 31
8.4. Others 32
9. References