Morphological evolution of drilling cuttings stack from Chang'e-6 in-situ imagery

Understanding regolith behavior during drilling is critical for lunar resource exploration. This study introduces a low-resource consumption Lunar Regolith Cuttings Geometry Recognition and Analysis Method (LRC-GRAM) to quantify drill cuttings stack evolution using Chang'e 6 (CE-6) in-situ imagery. Combining lunar imagery with ground-based simulations, the method reconstructs geometric parameters in real time. The results reveal a higher angle of repose in the range of 46.81-52.35° under lunar gravity, and the three-stage developmental process—static penetration with surface bulging, delayed chip expulsion, and accumulated chip evolution—was systematically characterized. These findings provide the first direct morphological observations of drilling-induced regolith transport and accumulation behavior under authentic lunar surface conditions, offering critical data for simulant improvement and adaptive drilling design.