Boulder Distributions at Legacy Landing Sites: Assessing Regolith Production Rates and Landing Site Hazards

Abstract: Understanding how the distribution of boulders on the lunar surface changes over time is key to understanding small-scale erosion processes and the rate at which rocks become regolith. Boulders degrade over time, primarily as a result of micrometeorite bombardment so their residence time at the surface can inform the rate at which rocks become regolith or become buried within regolith. Because of the gradual degradation of exposed boulders, we expect that the boulder population around an impa…