Morphological and Spectral Characterization of Lunar Regolith Breakdown due to Water Ice

We present new morphological and spectral analyses of high-fidelity lunar regolith simulants LHS-1 (lunar highlands simulant-1) and LMS-1 (lunar mare simulant-1) that have been exposed to various concentrations of water ice over periods of time to evaluate the extent at which lunar regolith may be weathered by ice-regolith interactions in the Moon’s polar regions. To characterize changes in regolith particle morphology, we explored individual grain size and shape parameters and characterized the abundance and behavior of clinging fines. Visible-to-near infrared and mid-infrared reflectance spectra were taken under ambient laboratory conditions from 1 - 25 µm (400 - 10,000 cm-1) to showcase any differences in spectral features that may occur as a result of regolith breakdown. Our experiment demonstrates that the lunar regolith is susceptible to alteration in the presence of water ice and that water ice is likely a contributor to the weathering environment within permanently shadowed regions on the lunar surface. This dataset contains all spectra, SEM images, and ExpertShape images/results used to conduct this work.