Heat Conductivity Measurements in Artificial Lunar Soil Samples

Kurzfassung

One of the key challenges presented by the establishment of a lunar surface base is the energy supply. The lunar night, lasting 14 Earth-days, makes purely solar-based energy generation unfeasible. Manned bases require continuous electricity supply as they cannot be simply shut-down like robots or rovers. The unique problem of continuously powering the environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) is under investigation at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). One proposed solution is the Selenothermal Power Generation (SPG) concept. This solution is predicted to generate sufficient energy to supplement solar generators during the lunar nocturnal period. This thesis investigates ground-based experimental validation of the SPG concept, including the design and construction of a test rig to perform heat conductivity measurements, as well as the execution of experiments to determine the heat transfer coefficient, which is needed to support the design of a power generation system.