Quality Control and our Simulants
We produce simulated extraterrestrial materials such as lunar regolith and lunar ice simulants so that research and testing can be performed either in our labs or at our client’s facilities. We take great care in assuring that our simulants are the best available.
In this picture you can see two of the primary feedstocks we use for some of our simulants; Shawmere anorthosite (left) and basaltic cinder from the San Francisco formation in Arizona (right).
About Our Lunar Regolith Simulants:
Lunar regolith varies depending on where it is found on the Moon. There are two general types, Mare and Highland regoliths, as well as materials unique to certain locations on the Moon. Each type of regolith is composed of a mixture of components that vary depending on location. What is unique about our simulants is that we produce each component separately and then build up specific simulants according to our client’s needs. If no specific landing site is selected, or if a client wants to test their technologies for general conditions on the Moon, we produce large quantities of general representative regolith simulants which are based on average samples of regolith gathered during the Apollo Missions or from orbital data.
Naming Convention:
Simulant Designations
We use specific designations for all of our simulants so that they can be better controlled and referenced by our clients and partners and in publications. To the left is an example of how our designators are set up.
About Our Lunar Ice Simulant:
We have created a lunar ice simulant called OPRFLCROSS2 which simulates lunar ice based on the results of the LCROSS impact mission. We are conducting ongoing experiments using OPRFLCROSS2, helping others to learn how to collect and process this ice into rocket fuel, breathable oxygen, drinkable water, and other critical supplies. This is vital to a sustainable presence in space. Please check back to see our progress.
Quality Control:
We are very serious about the quality control and consistency of our simulants. We own and maintain all of our purpose-built equipment. We obtain all of our feedstocks from recognized, dependable sources and we maintain the mineralogical or chemical reports and control samples for all of our stocks. We carefully control all of our production methods at every stage and maintain control samples of every batch of regolith simulant we make so we can compare each batch to their predecessors and assure the consistency of all of our simulants. These steps enable us to produce the same product now and ten years from now.