Characterization of planetary regolith simulants for the research and development of space resource technologies

Jared M. Long-Fox, Daniel T. Britt
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Abstract

Human planetary exploration and colonization efforts are reliant on the ability to safely interact with planetary surfaces and to leverage local regolith as a resource. The high-cost and risk-intensive nature of establishing planetary infrastructure and resource utilization facilities necessitates risk reduction through laboratory-based research and development of space resource acquisition, processing, and extraction technologies using appropriate, well-characterized, mineral-based regolith simulants. Such simulants enable the planetary exploration and resource utilization communities to test large-scale technologies and methodologies for a relatively low cost as an alternative to scarce and expensive returned samples. The fidelity of a regolith simulant for any application is, in part, determined by the mineralogical composition and particle size distribution. The importance of composition is well established for in situ resource utilization studies sensitive to geochemical properties but tends to be ignored in studies concerned with physical properties. Neglecting to consider mineralogy reduces the fidelity of a simulant since each mineral species has its own unique grain density, preferred grain geometry, and intergranular forces, all of which affect the physical properties of the simulant (e.g., shear strength, bearing strength, bulk density, thermal and electrical properties, magnetic properties). Traditionally, regolith simulants have been limited in quantity and availability; Exolith Lab remedies these problems by designing simulants in a constrained maximization approach to fidelity relative to cost, material availability, and safety. Exolith Lab simulants are designed to approximate the mineralogy and particle size ranges of the planetary regolith being simulated, with composition constrained by remote sensing observations and/or returned sample analyses. With facilities and equipment capable of high-volume simulant production, Exolith Lab offers standard simulants in bulk that are readily available for purchase and shipment. This work reviews the production methods, equipment, and materials used to create Exolith Lab simulants, provides compositional data, particle size data, and applications for each standard lunar, Martian, and asteroid simulant that Exolith Lab offers.
用于空间资源技术研究和发展的行星风化模拟物的特性
人类的行星探索和殖民努力依赖于与行星表面安全互动的能力,以及利用当地风化层作为资源的能力。由于建立行星基础设施和资源利用设施的成本高、风险大,因此必须通过实验室研究和开发空间资源获取、加工和提取技术来降低风险,这些技术使用适当的、特征明确的矿物基风化模拟物。这种模拟装置使行星勘探和资源利用界能够以较低的成本测试大规模技术和方法,作为稀缺和昂贵的返回样品的替代办法。任何应用的模拟风化层的保真度部分取决于矿物组成和粒度分布。在对地球化学性质敏感的就地资源利用研究中,成分的重要性是公认的,但在有关物理性质的研究中往往被忽视。忽略矿物学会降低模拟物的保真度,因为每种矿物都有自己独特的颗粒密度、首选的颗粒几何形状和晶间力,所有这些都会影响模拟物的物理性能(例如,剪切强度、承载强度、体积密度、热学和电学性能、磁性能)。传统上,模拟风化层的数量和可用性有限;Exolith Lab通过在约束最大化的方法中设计模拟来解决这些问题,从而保证相对于成本、材料可用性和安全性的保真度。Exolith Lab模拟物旨在近似模拟的行星风化层的矿物学和粒度范围,其成分受遥感观测和/或返回样品分析的限制。Exolith实验室拥有能够大批量生产模拟物的设施和设备,可以批量提供标准模拟物,随时可供购买和运输。这项工作回顾了用于创建Exolith实验室模拟的生产方法、设备和材料,提供了Exolith实验室提供的每个标准月球、火星和小行星模拟的成分数据、粒度数据和应用。
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