Planetary Simulant Database
Free Resource for Regolith Simulant Information
Mineralogy
Mineral | |
---|---|
Mg-serpentine | |
Mg-olivine | |
Magnetite | |
Fe-Ca-Mg Carbonate | |
Fe-Ni sulfides | |
Carbonate nanoparticles | |
Polymer organics | |
Basalt | |
Dunite |
Bulk Chemistry
No data available
Physical Properties
No data available
UTPS-IB Univ Tokyo Phobos Simulant Impact-based
Simulant Name: UTPS-IB
Availability: May Be Available
Fidelity: Basic
Developed By: University of Tokyo
Available From: N/A
Publications: Miyamoto, H. et al. (2018), Phobos environment model and regolith simulant for MMX mission. LPSC XLIX, Abstract #1882.
The University of Tokyo Phobos Simulant, Impact-based simulant is paired with UTPS-TB. Both simulants were developed to aid with engineering and hardware for the MMX mission, a sample return from Phobos planned to launch in 2024. The recipes for these two simulants are based on those developed by UCF: PCA-1 and PGI-1, and were created using similar methods. The -IB variety is based on a mixture of Tagish Lake mineralogy with dunite/basalt to simulate the accretion of Phobos from a giant impact into martian crust/mantle.
To date over 100 kg of each of UTPS-IB and UTPS-TB have been developed, with plans for up to 10 tons more. It is not clear whether these simulants will be made available outside of the official MMX activities.