Planetary Simulant Database
Free Resource for Regolith Simulant Information
Mineralogy
| Mineral | Volume % |
|---|---|
| Glass matrix | 44 |
| Plagioclase (Ca-rich) | 40 |
| Olivine | 8 |
| Clinopyroxene | 4 |
| K-feldspar | 2 |
| Ilmenite | 1 |
| Quartz | tr |
| Calcite | tr |
| Chromite | tr |
*tr = trace
Bulk Chemistry
Chemistry determined by XRF:
| Oxide | CSM-CL-S |
|---|---|
| SiO2 | 47.9 |
| TiO2 | 1.58 |
| Al2O3 | 17.2 |
| Fe2O3 | 11.7 |
| MgO | 6.44 |
| CaO | 8.93 |
| Na2O | 3.95 |
| K2O | 2.42 |
| MnO | 0.24 |
| P2O5 | 0.98 |
| Total | 101.34 |
Physical Properties
No data available
CSM-CL Colorado School of Mines Colorado Lava
Simulant Name: CSM-CL Colorado School of Mines Colorado Lava
Availability: May Be Available
Fidelity: Basic
Developed By: Colorado School of Mines
Available From: N/A
Publications: Dreyer, C., and P. van Susante (2010), Lunar Excavation Systems at the Colorado School of Mines. Workshop for the Lunar Applications of Mining and Mineral Beneficiation.
The CSM-CL simulant consists of a vesicular basaltic scoria from the Colorado Lava, mined in Colfax County, NM. It was obtained as the commercial product “FloweRock”, and has been used as a geotechnical simulant in robotics testing at CSM. The simulant is derived from a highly alkaline basalt: it can therefore be classified as a lunar mare simulant, even though the mineralogy and chemistry are not chosen or modified to match lunar samples. The raw material was crushed in an aerodynamic impact reactor at Zybek Advanced Products.
The simulant has never been described formally, and is likely used internally by CSM only. Several variants are referred to, including CL-2(-), CL-2, CL-4(+), CL-S and CL-F. These correspond to different particle size ranges, but there is not good quantitative documentation of what these names mean.
Images
Photograph of some of the CSM-CL variants, from Dreyer and van Susante (2010):
