The Nature of Lunar Soil: Considerations for Simulants

It is obvious that many factors must be considered in making lunar simulants for various ISRU projects. This subject is of major importance (also, see abstract by Carter et al., this meeting) as we move into the near-future endeavors associated with a return to the Moon. Herein, we address the detailed geologic specifics of lunar soil and list many of the geotechnical properties that should be considered before we produce simulants for definitive study purposes.