Planetary Simulant Database
Free Resource for Regolith Simulant Information
Mineralogy
| Mineral | Volume % |
|---|---|
| Feldspar | 60 |
| Pyroxene + Hornblende | 19.2 |
| Opaque + Glass | 20.8 |
Bulk Chemistry
| Oxide | Wt.% |
|---|---|
| SiO2 | 43.83 |
| TiO2 | 0.77 |
| Al2O3 | 25.79 |
| FeO | 3.52 |
| Fe2O3 | 2.62 |
| MnO | 0.09 |
| MgO | 4.93 |
| CaO | 15.12 |
| Na2O | 1.41 |
| K2O | 0.47 |
| P2O5 | 0.08 |
| LOI | 1.10 |
| Total | 99.71 |
Physical Properties
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Mean grain size | 53-81 μm |
| Median grain size | 41-61 μm |
| Specific gravity | 2.92 |
| Internal friction angle | 46.57 |
| Cohesion | 95.3 kPa |
NAO-1 National Astronomical Observatories
Simulant Name: NAO-1 National Astronomical Observatories
Availability: May Be Available
Fidelity: Standard
Developed By: NAO, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Available From: N/A
Publications: Li, Y., J. Liu, and Z. Yue (2009). NAO-1: Lunar Highland Soil Simulant Developed in China. Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 22, 53-57.
NAO-1 is a general purpose highlands simulant developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is designed to match the mineralogy and chemistry of Apollo 16 soils, and was sourced from gabbro mined on the north bank of Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet. The simulant consists mostly of calcic plagioclase and pyroxene from the gabbro.
To make the simulant, part of the gabbro was fired to a glass. This glass was re-mixed with the crystalline gabbro and comminuted to achieve the desired particle size distribution. Li et al. (2009) claim that 80 kg was stored in the Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration Center of the NAO and is available upon request from Professor Liu. It isn’t clear how much, if any, still exists.
Images
A photomicrograph of the gabbro used to produce NAO-1. From Li et al. (2009)
