Material selection and its characterization for Mars environment and a study on full field strain analysis

The atmosphere of Mars consists of carbon dioxide (95.32%), nitrogen (2.70%), argon (1.60%), oxygen (0.13%), carbon monoxide (0.08%) and small amounts of water vapor and other gases. The diurnal temperature ranges from 184 K to 242 K (−89°C to −31°C). It is necessary to consider these technical attributes of the Martian environment for future endeavors in space exploration. This work aims at the selection of a material, which is most suitable for the Martian environment. The selection is carried out by defining application requirements, physical properties of the material and short-listing of possible materials. The selected material is then acquired depending on factors such as feasibility, availability and cost efficiency. Characterization of materials is carried out by conducting impact, hardness, tensile and flexural testing at room temperature following the ASTM standards for testing of plastics. Conclusively, the theoretical aspects of full-field strain analysis using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique is discussed as a future scope of the work.