Why Scientists are making fake moon dust today!

Real moon soil is weird, unpredictable and dangerous, so NASA made fake soil ("simulants") to prep their hardware before missions. Private businesses now help with large-scale production since there's a Moon boom. We got samples by ordering them online & Exolith Lab showed us how it's made. They start by asking "where on the moon do you wanna simulate?"

Researchers are using simulants to figure out how to dig, navigate rovers & extract oxygen from the moon. We looked at a problem which could jeopardize our plans on the Moon: when rocket exhaust hits the moon it sends up a huge plume of regolith that travels across the entire moon!

The Moon’s soil, called regolith, is an unpredictable and even dangerous substance that can harm equipment, clog instruments, and irritate astronauts’ eyes and lungs. To avoid potential problems, NASA developed fake lunar soil on Earth to better prepare hardware before it is used on the Moon. In recent years, private businesses have been enlisted to help with large-scale production of lunar simulant. Exolith Lab is one of NASA's primary suppliers of lunar simulants. To make it, the team sources raw materials from mines and other suppliers, crushes them, and sieves them out to achieve the desired shape, that desired jaggedness that they are looking for.

The recipe for lunar simulant is based on studies of real lunar samples. For example, for the Highlands, the team mixes a bunch of anorthosite, a little basalt, and a smidge of ilminite, pyroxene, and olivine. Different simulant recipes can mimic different regions on the Moon.

Simulants are being used for various purposes, such as testing equipment, navigating rovers, growing plants, and extracting oxygen. Each simulant is unique, and different stimulants can get pretty close to the desired result. However, no simulant is a perfect stand-in for all experiments, and researchers must order the right simulant for the right test.

As more missions aim for the Moon, the simulant business is brisk, and private businesses are getting in on the action. The community is challenging the industry, with requests for larger and larger quantities of lunar simulant. Exolith Lab is one of the primary suppliers of lunar simulants to NASA.

Gruener explained that the environment of the moon is full of gritty and dusty regolith, which is very different from the weathered soil particles found on Earth due to wind and water erosion. The angular soil particles on the moon are created through impacts, making it challenging for mechanical tools to work efficiently on the moon. Hence, regolith simulants are being utilized for various experiments and tests such as developing air-purifying filters, testing geological tools, and checking the resistance of spacesuit fabrics against lunar dust contamination. The Johnson Space Center is among the organizations that are using these simulants for such experiments.

The lunar soil contains a considerable amount of glass because of the numerous high-energy impacts of meteorites on the moon's surface. These impacts generate heat, which results in the formation of glass in the soil. On Earth, the soil's natural occurrence of glass is mainly found in regions close to volcanoes.

In nutshell, the video is about how NASA and private businesses have developed fake lunar soil, known as lunar regolith simulant, to prepare hardware for lunar missions, as the soil on the moon is unpredictable and dangerous. The lunar regolith simulant is used to test equipment and experiments, including growing plants, extracting oxygen, navigating rovers, and more. The lunar simulant is made by private companies in collaboration with NASA, with raw materials sourced from mines and suppliers, crushed and sieved, mixed together in the proper ratio and baked until homogeneous. The simulant can replicate some features of the moon's soil, such as the size and shape of particles or the chemical composition, which researchers can use for specific tests.