Planetary Simulant Database
Free Resource for Regolith Simulant Information
Mineralogy
| Mineral | Wt.% |
|---|---|
| Mg-serpentine | 72.5 |
| Magnetite | 10.4 |
| Olivine | 7.8 |
| Sub-bituminous coal | 3.6 |
| Pyrite | 2.6 |
| Pyroxene | 2.1 |
| Siderite | 1.0 |
Bulk Chemistry
| Oxide | Wt.% |
|---|---|
| SiO2 | 32.5 |
| TiO2 | 0.3 |
| Al2O3 | 3.1 |
| Cr2O3 | 0.2 |
| FeOT | 20.2 |
| MgO | 32.1 |
| CaO | 3.1 |
| Na2O | 6.2 |
| K2O | 0.2 |
| P2O5 | 0.4 |
| SO3 | 1.5 |
| Cl | 0.0 |
| Total | 100.0 |
Physical Properties
No data available
UCF/DSI CM Carbonaceous Chondrite Simulant
Simulant Name: UCF/DSI CM Carbonaceous Chondrite Simulant
Availability: Not Available
Fidelity: Basic
Developed By: UCF & Deep Space Industries
Available From: N/A
Spec Sheet: CM Spec Sheet
Publications: Britt et al. 2019, Simulated asteroid materials based on carbonaceous chondrite mineralogies
The UCF/DSI CM Carbonaceous Chondrite Simulant was an asteroid regolith simulant based on the Murchison CM carbonaceous chondrite.
To produce the simulant, individual mineral components were sourced and prepared, then mixed together with water and sodium metasilicate that acts as a binder. The resulting mixture was dried to remove the water, then mechanically ground in a rock crusher to achieve the desired particle size distribution. Because two critical components of CM chondrites, cronstedtite and tochillinite, were not able to be sourced, these were substitute for g-serpentine.
Images
Photograph of the CM simulant:
