Recent work at Nonta has been focused on understanding the distribution of gold in the
regolith profile using mapping and various sampling with analysis.
It is so dry that one would need to process more than a metric ton of
regolith in order to collect 16 ounces of water.
Two dusty plasma clouds form as a result -- one composed of
regolith fragments and a second of hardened droplets of molten material.
Conversely, in landscapes where saline water passing through the
regolith is chemically buffered, land salinity may not be apparent but the net salt flux to streams can be high.
Seeing what happens when the surface of the Moon cools quickly will help scientists "understand some of the characteristics of the
regolith - the mixture of soil and loose rocks on the surface - and how it changes over time," the US space agency said in a statement.
Lunar landers are exposed to severe lunar thermal environments with a daily surface temperature difference of approximately 300[degrees]C owing to the absence of atmosphere to absorb heat energy and the high absorptivity and emissivity values of lunar
regolith [8].
OSIRIS-REx stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security,
Regolith Explorer.
The thickness of the outermost lunar shell is approximately 60~65km, the top 1~2km of which mainly consists of lunar
regolith and rock fragments [1].
Geared toward undergraduate and graduate student teams, the competition required teams to design and build a mining robot that could navigate a simulated Martian terrain, excavate as much simulated Martian
regolith (superficial material covering solid rock) and gravel as possible, and deposit the material into a collection bin.