Properties of Lunar Soil Simulant JSC-1

Abstract

With the establishment of a lunar base, many tasks will require direct interaction between the in-situ lunar soil and a wide variety of instruments and implements. The individual tasks may be scientific in nature, or simply the manipulation of the lunar soil. To help fulfill the need for relatively large quantities of lunar soil simulant in researching these operations, Johnson Space Center has developed a new simulant called JSC-1. It is produced from a basaltic pyroclastic sheet deposit located in the San Francisco volcanic field near Flagstaff, Arizona (as reported by McKay et al. in 1993 and 1994). JSC-1 is a crushed, ground, and sieved material that was developed to have similar mechanical properties and characteristics of the lunar soil. Furthermore, this glass-rich basaltic ash can be used in chemical or mineralogical resource studies (as reported by McKay et al. in 1993 and 1994). The Lunar Soil Simulant Laboratory, at the Civil Engineering Department, at Texas A & M University, is responsible for analyzing, storing, and distributing this material to qualified researchers. Information regarding the availability of JSC-1 is provided at the end of the paper. The purpose of this paper is to assess JSC-1 as a close terrestrial analog of the lunar soil and to inform the research community of the availability of the new simulant.