The Influence of Humidity on the Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Parameters in Moon Soil Surface Used for Future Habitats

Abstract

Main subject of the work is the characterization of an enclosed environment representative of future lunar habitats in terms of microwave chaotic propagation, focusing on how the EM scattering and absorption comes to be affected by the increasing of moisture level within the inner atmosphere. The rationale of the study lies in a wider research project which aims at performing a Moon feasibility investigation in terms of using lunar soil (regolith) for cultivation and building purpose, as well as to identify possible interferences for TLC systems due to its specific mineral and chemical composition. Thus, the issue of the influence of humidity on the microwave behavior detected inside regolith-based infrastructures should be worth of investigation, especially if remote monitoring and controlling operations to run a space farming greenhouse are envisaged. The study is performed by means of a space environment simulator connected to a microwave characterization equipment in order to evaluate the electromagnetic field attenuation inside a reverberating chamber in the range 1–6 GHz: the several materials and structures filling the chamber are conceived on the base of literature data regarding the lunar regolith composition, while the atmosphere conditions - in terms of pressure, temperature and moisture - are set-up to assess the dependence of the chamber microwave absorbing effectiveness on the varying environmental parameters. The preliminary measurements show that the effects of the surroundings on the microwave propagation must be strictly taken into account in order to design efficiently mobile telecommunications systems operating inside lunar habitats.