# Presentation: 886686

## Simulant Materials of Lunar DustRequirements and Feasibility

- Laurent Sibille
- Lead Scientist for Space Resources Utilization
- BAE Systems / NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
- Ron Schlagheck
- Element Manager for Space Resources Utilization
- NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

- January 24, 2005

## Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials WorkshopJanuary 24 – 26, 2005 Marshall Space Flight Center - Huntsville, Alabama

_**Science Committee**_**:****	**
**	**
**Paul Carpenter ****	****	****	****	****David McKay**
**	****MSFC/Bae Systems**** ****	****	****	****	****JSC**
**James Carter ****	****	****	****	****Laurent Sibille**
**	****U. Texas - Dallas**** ****	****	****	****	****MSFC/Bae Systems****	**
**David Carrier III ****	****	****	****Lawrence Taylor**
**	****Lunar Geotechnical Institute ****	****	****	****U. Tennessee- Knoxville**

- _ __Report on Lunar Simulant Materials_: March 31, 2005 (interim); June 30, 2005 (Final)
-  lunar simulants needs, definition, production, cost & acquisition strategies
- _ __Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials Requirements document_
-  Will define specification standards for simulants and their production

- January 24, 2005

## WHAT DID WE LEARN ?

**WHAT DID WE LEARN ?**

**“****WE” WENT **
**	****TO THE MOON**** **

- January 24, 2005

## We learned a lot from Lunar Samples

- Apollo, Lunar Rover: over 34 types !
- 1985	Minnesota Lunar Simulant 1 & 2 (Weiblen)
- 1989   	Workshop on Production and Uses of Lunar 		Simulants (McKay & Blacic)
- 1991	Lunar Sourcebook (Heiken, Vaniman, et al.)
- 1992	JSC-1 simulant (McKay, Carter, Boles et al.)
- ~ 1993	FJS-1, Japanese Space Agency

- 	... and the use of Simulants over the years

-  >380 Kg (Apollo, Luna)

- January 24, 2005

## Where are we now?

- MLS-1, JSC-1 are gone...
- Researchers make their own simulants or buy from small suppliers
- No materials made to simulate lunar dust
- In 2004
-  17 projects funded by Exploration Systems Mission Directorate      will study or develop technologies for lunar surface
-  Over 15 SBIR/STTR projects awarded that need lunar simulants
-  1 SBIR (Phase I) to study production options of new lunar simulants

- January 24, 2005

## What lunar simulants do we need?

- _Widely-accepted standard materials_ make it possible to compare technology performances
- The simulants developed must be _relevant_ to the lunar exploration architecture
- Planned Landing regions
- Planned and funded Lunar activities
- The simulants must be _prioritized_
- Spiral development of lunar simulants over the years?
- 2005-2006 SMART-1
- 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

- And in what quantities?

- January 24, 2005

## 2004-2005: Funded lunar activities (NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate)

- _In Situ Regolith Characterization_: core drilling, geotechnical and mechanical properties, chemistry...
- _Extraction_ of ice, hydrogen, volatiles, oxygen (polar and non-polar regions)
- _Regolith handling_: excavation, transport, berm building
- _Dust mitigation_

- January 24, 2005

##  
Session 1 - What simulant properties do we need to support the development of each lunar activity?

Session 2 - What approach should be adopted to define a family of simulants? What combination of properties is needed for each simulant?

Session 3 - How do you produce, characterize, validate and distribute these simulants?

Electronic Meeting System
~ 60 Participants used networked workstations in parallel to provide knowledge and define requirements

- Session 1 - **What simulant properties do we need to support the development of each lunar activity?**
- Session 2 - **What approach should be adopted to define a family of simulants? What combination of properties is needed for each simulant?**
- Session 3 - **How do you produce, characterize, validate and distribute these simulants?**
- Electronic Meeting System
- ~ 60 Participants used networked workstations in parallel to provide knowledge and define requirements

**Workshop on Lunar Regolith Simulants *****Approach***

- January 24, 2005

## Use of a Knowledge matrix

Relates ‘lunar activities’ to ‘regolith properties’
Assesses the importance of each regolith property
HIGH (H):  This property of lunar soil/regolith must be duplicated in a lunar simulant with high fidelity to assure a high degree of confidence in the technology developed using that simulant.
MEDIUM (M): must be duplicated in a lunar simulant with medium fidelity 
LOW (L):  does not need to be duplicated, but would be of added value.
NOT REQUIRED (0): is not required in a lunar simulant for the development of the technology
UNKNOWN

- Relates ‘lunar activities’ to ‘regolith properties’
- Assesses the importance of each regolith property
**HIGH (H)**:  This property of lunar soil/regolith _must_ _be duplicated in a lunar simulant with high fidelity_ to assure a high degree of confidence in the technology developed using that simulant.
**MEDIUM (M)**: _must be duplicated_ in a lunar simulant with _medium_ fidelity
**LOW (L)**:  _does not need_ to be duplicated, _but would be of added value_.
**NOT REQUIRED (0)**: _is not required_ in a lunar simulant for the development of the technology
**UNKNOWN**

- Session 1 - Regolith properties to be simulated

- January 24, 2005

## Technology/Regolith Matrix

- January 24, 2005

## Session 2 - Simulant definition

- Concept of root & derivative simulants proposed and favored
- _Group 1 - Physical/Mechanical Processes_
**Resume production of JSC-1 Clone**
**address immediate needs (TRL 2-6), including geomechanical/geotechnical properties testing, and serve as a standard**
**Additives: chemical (ilmenite, anorthositic plagioclase), physical (larger particles >1mm)**
**Geologic sources for root & additive materials**
**High-Ti basalt (mare), Anorthosite (highlands)**
**Too little is known of lunar polar region geology**
**Exact geologic features of polar regolith may be secondary (polar environment is primary factor)**

- January 24, 2005

## Session 2 - Simulant definition

- _Group 2 - Physico-chemical Processes_
**JSC-1 adequate as base chemical composition**
**As a volcanic ash, it possesses some basic glass components**
**New root & additive materials**
**Basaltic tuff (glassy) at low end of Ti (Mare), Anorthosite (highlands)**
**Agglutinate material, iron phase, special glass content**
**Minerals as additives: Olivine, Ilmenite**
**Attention must be paid to minor and trace elements**

- January 24, 2005

## Session 2 - Simulant definition

- _Group 3 - Dust effects & mitigation_
**For biological/medical applications, root simulants would have to be modified to increase fidelity to the actual lunar fines**
**Close match to grain size distribution, agglutinates**
**< 20 microns particles are needed**
**Grain morphology & mineralogy**
**New additive materials**
**Use of pure mineral fines or others (SiO****2****, C)**
**‘****electronic simulants’: modeling of dust behavior (electrostatic charging, irradiation effects, rheology)**

- January 24, 2005

## Session 3 - Simulants production

- Needs for Lunar simulants estimated to be above 100t. Usage will be phased in time. Full estimates not complete yet
- Specific requirements defined for simulants characteristics and quality control
- Procurement options left open but NASA seen as ‘guarantor’ of quality and to perform curator functions
- Need for a database on simulants (part of quality control) and simulants usage & customers

- January 24, 2005

## Requirements on Lunar Dust Simulants for toxicity studies

- _Grain sizes (submicron to 20____m?)_
- Reduced gravity affects airborne particle streams/clusters
- _Grain shapes_
- Elongation and aspect ratios, broken shapes, agglomerates
- _Grain surfaces_
- Nano- and micro-roughness, porosity, electrocharging
- Chemical reactivity (mineral phases, solar-wind elements (H+, noble gases)
- Amorphous & crystalline mix

- (D. McKay et al., Ch.7, Lunar Sourcebook)

- January 24, 2005

## Which dust properties are critical 

- _to understand lunar dust toxicity?_
- Adhesion
- Sorption
- Chemical Reactivity
- Abrasion
- Surface charge density
- Interlocking shapes
- Tensile strength (fracturing)
- Solubility (mineral phases, amorphous phases)
- Flocculation & Aggregation states (size distributions)
- Thermal (heat absorption, transfer)
- Optical (absorption, reflection, scattering)
- Many properties dictated by size...

- _Lunar Environment Factors_
- 10-12 Torr vacuum
- Intense illumination (full spectrum)
- Severe thermal gradients (+125C - ?)
- Micrometeoritic bombardment
- Oxygen free ‘atmosphere

- _Human/Habitat Environment Factors_
- Atmosphere (O2, pressure, H2O, T°C)
- Convective flows

- (D. McKay et al., Ch.7, Lunar Sourcebook)

- January 24, 2005

## Feasibility issues Dust simulants

- Feasibility will depend strongly on the cumulation of required properties
- Choice of starting materials (natural minerals or synthetic particles) dictates the ensuing processes
- Submicron fabrication available through many techniques
- Complex mineral chemistries at submicron levels likely to force the use of natural minerals

- January 24, 2005

## (D. McKay et al., Ch.7, Lunar Sourcebook)

- January 24, 2005

## Simulant particlesProduction techniques

- _Mechanical Dispersoids_ (wide size distribution)
- Impact milling, comminution, disintegration
- _Condensed Dispersoids_ (size uniformity, submicron control)
- Vapor-phase condensation, crystallization, polymerization
- Plasma synthesis, Sol-gel and colloidal processing (mixed oxide aerogels)
- Ceramic whiskers, Nanophase iron synthesis
- As particle size decreases, shapes tend to become more spherical
- At small sizes (< 10m), flocculation often results
- 	(Dynamic phenomenon)

- January 24, 2005

## 2005...WE PREPARE TO GO BACK

**2005...WE PREPARE TO GO BACK**

**NEW RESEARCH**

**NEW SIMULANTS**

**NEW TECHNOLOGIES**

- January 24, 2005

## http://est.msfc.nasa.gov/workshops/lrsm2005.html

We’re looking for a few ‘good’ experts to complete the definition work of simulants...
	... contact Laurent Sibille or Ron Schlagheck

Post-workshop activity (on-going):
Web-based data collection (open to experts who wish to contribute)

- We’re looking for a few ‘good’ experts to complete the definition work of simulants...
- 	... contact Laurent Sibille or Ron Schlagheck
- Post-workshop activity (on-going):
- Web-based data collection (open to experts who wish to contribute)

- Workshop website:

- January 24, 2005