WITH NASA'S DESIRE TO RETURN TO THE MOON AND ITS CURRENT EMPHASIS TO EXPLORE ASTEROIDS AND CONTINUE MARTIAN EXPLORATION THERE IS A NEED TO ESTABLISH A SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY FOR SIMULATING AND PREDICTING THE INTERACTION OF LANDERS WITH AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL BODY SURFACE.IN PARTICULAR ANY ROCKET THRUSTER DIRECTED TOWARD THE SURFACE WILL CAUSE A CRATER TO DEVELOP POTENTIALLY PREVENTING A SAFE LANDING OR MAKING THE SITE UNSUITABLE FOR FUTURE VEHICLE OPERATIONS. DUST AND DEBRIS WILL BE EXPELLED AT HIGH VELOCITIES FROM THE POINT OF IMPACT THAT COULD DAMAGE NEARBY EQUIPMENT STRUCTURES OR THE VEHICLE ITSELF. PARTICLES WILL LIKELY BE LAUNCHED INTO LUNAR ORBIT POSING A HAZARD TO ORBITING VEHICLES. WHILE PAST NASA PROGRAMS (E.G. APOLLO AND VIKING) INVESTIGATED THIS PHENOMENON THE STUDY WAS NOT SUFFICIENTLY IN-DEPTH AND LITTLE QUANTITATIVE DATA EXISTS THAT COULD BE USED AS A BASIS TO DESIGN SUCCESSFUL FUTURE MISSIONS. THIS PROJECT IS DEVOTED TO DEVELOPING A NOVEL INTEGRATED THEORETICAL AND NUMERICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CHARACTERIZING THE INTERACTIONBETWEEN THE ROCKET PLUME OF A LANDING OR LAUNCHING LUNAR VEHICLE AND THE LUNAR REGOLITH. DESCRIBING THIS PHENOMENON REQUIRES EXTENSIVE AND DETAILED PHYSICAL MODELING OF MATERIAL PROPERTIES CHEMICAL REACTIONS PARTICLE DYNAMICS TURBULENT FLOW AND THERMAL AND MECHANICAL STRESSES. THE PRESENT PROPOSAL IS PRESENTED AS A SUCCESSOR TO THE CURRENT WORK TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT MODELS REPRESENTING THE BEHAVIOR OF THE EJECTED MATERIAL AFTER IT LEAVES THE SURFACE ITS INTERACTION WITH THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL-OBJECT SURFACE AND THE ENGINE PLUME AND WHERE IT COMES TO REST. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT AN OVERALL PARTICLE-LADEN FLOW MODEL WILL PROVIDE PREDICTIVE INFORMATION TOWARDS INVESTIGATING AND DETERMINING SUITABLE LANDING SITE CRITERIA TO ASSIST IN LEARNING HOW PLANETARY FLIGHT OPERATIONS CAN IMPACT NEARBY STRUCTURES AND ACTIVITIES OR FUTURE FLIGHTS TO THE SAME EXTRATERRESTRIAL OBJECT AND TO LEAD TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHALLENGES IN EXPLORING OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.