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Simulant Materials of Lunar Dust: Requirements and feasibilityAs NASA turns its exploration ambitions towards the Moon once again, the research and development of new technologies for lunar operations face the challenge of meeting the milestones of a fast-pace schedule, reminiscent of the 1960 s Apollo program. While the lunar samples returned by the Apollo and Luna missions have revealed much about the Moon, these priceless materials exist in too scarce quantities to be used for technology development and testing. The need for mineral materials chosen to simulate the characteristics of lunar regoliths is a pressing issue that must be addressed today through the collaboration of scientists, engineers and program managers. While the larger size fraction of the lunar regolith has been reproduced in several simulants in the past, little attention has been paid to the fines fraction, commonly refered to as lunar dust. As reported by McKay, this fraction of the lunar regolith below 20 microns can represent upto 30% by mass of the total regolith mass. The issue of reproducing the properties of these fines for research and technology development purposes was addressed by the recently held Workshop on Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials at Marshall Space Flight Center. Preliminary conclusions from the workshop and con- side-rations concerning the feasibility of producing such materials will be presented here.
Document ID
20050182102
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Sibille, L.
(BAE Systems Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2005
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS8-02096
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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