The 88th ESA Parabolic Flight Campaign, conducted by Novespace in November 2025, provided a unique opportunity to perform experiments involving interactions between lunar regolith simulants and mechanical sampling and excavation devices under simulated lunar-gravity conditions. The main objectives of the experiments were:
- determination of lunar regolith parameters as a function of regolith relative density;
- determination of the performance of the Rotary Clamshell Excavator (RCE) under reduced gravity;
- image-based analysis of regolith movement induced by mechanical devices;
- evaluation of the effects of different regolith simulants on cutting mechanics;
- comparison of results obtained under terrestrial and lunar-gravity conditions;
- estimation of lunar regolith geotechnical parameters applicable to civil engineering and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).
To address these objectives, three types of experimental tests were carried out:
- Digging tests using the RCE device to repeatedly collect regolith simulant.
- Blade-cutting tests to investigate the mechanical shear behaviour of the simulants.
- Rotating-drum tests to determine the dynamic angle of repose of the simulants.
The experiments were supported by dedicated numerical models of the granular material, adapted to the parabolic-flight campaign. The experimental equipment was installed in two separate racks: PETER-Part 1 accommodated the RCE developed by CBK PAN, while PETER-Part 2 accommodated the blade-cutting and rotating-drum devices developed by AGH University of Krakow.
The campaign lasted three days, during which three lunar regolith simulants were tested: AGK2010, LMS and LHS-1D. The experimental matrix contains 30 indexed parabolas for each campaign day.
The dataset contains curated video recordings from all three experiments, together with parabola-specific aircraft acceleration profiles and supporting metadata describing the experiment-to-file relationships, camera parameters and file integrity checks. Missing recordings are identified as NA in the experimental matrix.
Campaign dates: 18–20 November 2025.
For further information, please consult the readme.txt file.
(2025-11-20)
