• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.327-333
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• 2019

For sustainable lunar exploration, the most required resources should be procured on site because it takes tremendous cost to transfer the resources from the Earth to the Moon. The technologies required for use of lunar resources refers to In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). As the ISRU technology cannot be verified in the Earth, a lunar surface environment simulator is necessary to be prepared in advance. The Moon has no atmosphere, and the average temperature of the lunar surface reaches to $107^{\circ}C$ during the daytime and $-153^{\circ}C$ at night. The lunar surface is also covered with very fine soils with sharp particles that are electrostatically charged by solar radiation and solar wind. In this research, generation of vacuum environment with lunar soil mass in a chamber and simulation of electrostatically charged soils are taken into consideration. It was successful to make a vacuum environment of a chamber including lunar soils without soil disturbance by controlling evacuation rate of a vacuum chamber. And an experiment procedure for simulating the charged lunar soil was suggested by theoretical consideration in charging phenomena on lunar dust.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2020

As interest in lunar exploration increases, studies on lunar surface environment simulation including a lunar soil simulant are being conducted. One of the problems when creating a vacuum environment with lunar soil is that it takes long time to reach high vacuum due to outgas from the soil. Most of the outgas is water, and the time to reach high vacuum can be significantly reduced by a pretreatment process that removes moisture adhering to the surface of the lunar soil before putting soil into a vacuum chamber. The existing soil drying methods were examined to determine how these methods were effective to remove moisture from the lunar simulant soil. Drying experiments of lunar soil samples were carried out using a dry oven, a microwave oven, direct heating method and a vacuum oven, and the results of the drying experiment were presented. Drying soil at 110℃ using a dry oven and drying soil by a microwave oven were not enough to remove moisture, and vacuum oven drying method and direct heating drying method at more than 200℃ were effective in water removal.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.104.2-104.2
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• 2012

미국, 중국, 일본, 인도 등과 같은 세계 여러 국가들이 달 및 화성 탐사를 수행하고 있는 현시점에서 우리나라도 2025년에 달 탐사를 계획하고 있다. 인간에게 있어서 우주공간은 고에너지 환경의 영향을 많이 받는 곳이다. 향후 달, 화성과 같은 다른 행성으로의 이주를 생각하고 있는 현 시점에서 우리는 고에너지우주방사선 환경의 영향을 고려해야 한다. 지구에서의 인간은 지구 자기장과 대기에 의해 고에너지 우주선 환경으로부터의 영향을 덜 받는다. 그러나 달과 화성의 경우는 다르다. 달의 대기는 거의 없고 자기장도 무시할 정도로 매우 작으며, 화성 또한 자기장이 거의 없으며 대기 또한 얇아서 Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR)나 Solar Energetic Proton (SEP) 등으로부터 인간은 많은 영향을 받을 수 있다. 이러한 위험으로부터 인간이 보호받을 수 있는 곳은 달과 화성의 지표 아래나 동굴이라고 볼 수 있다. 그래서 달 및 화성의 표면과 지하 영역에 대한 고에너지 우주선 환경의 깊이에 따른 영향을 분석하여 어느 정도로 두터운 천장을 가진 동굴이어야 우주인들이 상주하는 지하공간을 지구표면에서의 방사선 환경과 같은 수준으로 유지할 수 있는지를 추정해 보려고 한다. 달 표면 토양의 화학적 구성성분은 Maria와 Highlands로 구분되어 약간의 차이가 있다. 달의 Maria 토양은 $SiO_2$ - 45.4%, $Al_2O_3$ - 14.9%, CaO - 11.8%, FeO - 14.1%, MgO - 9.2%, $TiO_2$ - 3.9%, $Na_2O$ - 0.6%이고 Highlands의 토양은 $SiO_2$ - 45.5%, $Al_2O_3$ - 24.0%, CaO - 15.9%, FeO - 5.9%, MgO - 7.5%, $TiO_2$ - 0.6%, $Na_2O$ - 0.6%의 화학적인 구성비를 가진다. 또한 화성표면은 $SiO_2$ - 43.9%, $Al_2O_3$ - 8.1%, CaO - 6.0%, FeO - 18.1%, MgO - 7.1%, $Na_2O$ - 1.4%의 토양의 화학적인 구성비를 가지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 구성비를 가지고 있는 달과 화성 표면에 대한 우주방사선의 영향을 분석하기 위해서 GEANT4를 사용하여 수행한 전산 모사의 결과를 발표할 것이다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.45 no.9
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• pp.766-774
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• 2017

When a plume flow exhausted from a lunar lander descent engine impinges on the lunar surface, regolith particles on the lunar surface will be dispersed due to a plume-surface interaction. If the dispersed particles collide with the lunar lander, some adverse effects such as a performance degradation can be caused. Thus, this study tried to predict the plume flow behaviors using the CFD methods. A nozzle inside region was analyzed by a continuum flow model based on the Navier-Stokes equations while the plume behaviors of the outside nozzle was performed by comparing and analyzing the individual results using the continuum flow model and the DSMC method. As a result, it was possible to establish an optimum procedure of the plume analysis for the lunar lander descent engine in the vacuum condition. In the future, it is expected to utilize the present results for the development of the Korean lunar lander.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.199-212
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• 2023

In contrast to the short-term nature of lunar missions in the past, lunar missions in new space era aim to extend the presence on the lunar surface and to use this capability for the Mars exploration. In order to realize extended human presence on the Moon, production and use of consumables and fuels required for the habitation and transportation using in-situ resources is an important prerequisite. The Global Exploration Roadmap presented by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which reflects the space exploration plans of participating countries, shows the phases of progress from lunar surface exploration to Mars exploration and relates in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) capabilities to each phase. Based on the ISRU Gap Assessment Report from the ISECG, ISRU technology is categorized into in-situ propellant and consumable production, in-situ construction, in-space manufacturing, and related areas such as storage and utilization of products, power systems required for resource utilization. Among the lunar resources, leading countries have prioritized the utilization of ice water existing in the permanent shadow region near the lunar poles and the extraction of oxygen from the regolith, and are preparing to investigate the distribution of resources and ice water near the lunar south pole through unmanned landing missions. Resource utilization technologies such as producing hydrogen and oxygen from water by hydroelectrolysis and extracting oxygen from the lunar regolith are being developed and tested in relevant lunar surface analogue environments. It is also observed that each government emphasizes the use and development of the private sector capabilities for sustainable lunar surface exploration by purchasing lunar landing services and providing opportunities to participate in resource exploration and material extraction.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.833-839
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• 2013

Thermal vacuum test should be performed prior to launch to verify satellites' functionality in a harsh space environment which is represented by extremely cold temperatures and vacuum conditions. A thermal vacuum chamber which consists of a vacuum vessel, a pumping system, and a thermal control system are used to perform thermal vacuum tests of a satellite system and its components. A cryogenic blower is a core component of the closed loop thermal control system for thermal vacuum chambers. This paper describes the fan design of the cryogenic blower, the design of the thermal protection interface between the driving part and the fluid part, which were verified by thermal and structural analyses. The performance of the cryogenic blower is confirmed by similarity test on the test bench.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.324-331
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• 2018

The thermal environment on lunar surface is more severe than that of earth's surface or low earth orbit because of the long daytime and nighttime due to 28 days of rotation cycle of moon. Thus, analyzing heat flux on lunar lander at potential landing sites is important to determine the landing site in its initial design phase. In this study, thermal model of lunar regolith that can simulate lunar surface temperature was constructed for analyzing thermal characteristics according to the potential landing sites of lunar lander. The heat flux analyses were performed various latitudes of equator, mid-latitude, polar regions, lunar mare and highland. In addition, we also investigated the heat flux of lunar lander when it is landed on adjacent area to hill.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.223-237
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• 2010

The initial heating rate is well known as one of the most influencing factors on the occurrence of spalling and the loss of strength in concrete after fire initiation. In this study, a series of fire tests were carried out at different initial heating rates to find out its effects on the deterioration of tunnel structural members. Heat transfer analyses combined with an element elimination model were also carried out to verify its applicability in the same conditions as the fire tests. Moreover, the convection heat transfer coefficients compatible with fire test results were derived from parametric studies. In this course, their time-dependent variations were also analyzed at different initial heating rates. Finally, a numerical formula to estimate the heat transfer coefficients at the various initial heating rates was proposed by the interpolation of the results of numerical analyses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.427-430
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• 2008

This study considered the heat exchanger of bleed air from engine. The computional fluid analysis was performed considering the external flow and internal flow on heat exchanger. Using the CFD results, the external configuration and internal flow path of heat exchanger were designed. And also the performance test is conducted and the results of tests were compared with the analysis resutls.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.17-25
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• 2020

Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology has constructed a large scale Dust Thermal Vacuum Chamber to simulate extreme lunar terrestrial environments and to study the Moon as an outposts for space development and exploration. Although a large amount of KLS-1 (Korean Lunar Simulant-1) is required for research, its massive production is practically difficult. This paper describes semi-automatic manufacturing system for massive production of KLS-1 in detail, which is seven times more efficient than manual production. In addition, to increase the similarity with lunar regolith, hydrogen reduction reaction using ilmenite which is one of the minerals was also conducted to simulate nanophase Fe(0) which is the unique property of lunar regolith. As a result, it was found that np-Fe(0) was formed at a temperature of 700℃ or higher, and increased in proportion to the temperature until 900℃.