Overview
Overview
Simulant guidance, inquiries, recommendations, and procurement are facilitated through the NASA Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) Simulant Advisory Committee. The purpose of the Simulant Advisory Committee is to establish a NASA-wide voice of all things simulants. The committee gives advice on appropriate use and creation of simulants and assists in their production and distribution across NASA, academia, and the private sector. The committee will identify a simulant supply chain and develop guidelines and standards to facilitate consistency and efficiency for bulk-use, moderate-fidelity use, and high-fidelity use simulants. Additionally, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) LSII is working with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s (APL) Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) to characterize and assess commercial lunar simulants. Table 3 on page 24 of the assessment summarizes the results.
NASA simulant recommendations for evacuation/flow, drilling, abrasion/wear, oxygen production, and human health studies are provided in the Lunar Regolith Simulant User’s Guide (Schrader et al., 2010). Additions, updates, and revisions to the Schrader et al. (2010) document are in progress via the LSII Simulant Advisory Committee (Gruener et al., in progress).
Simulant Advisory Committee POC's
Simulant Advisory Committee POC's
Personnel | Role | Phone | |
---|---|---|---|
John Gruener | JSC Simulant POC/ Committee Lead |
281-483-1842 | john.e.gruener@nasa.gov |
Rostislav Kovtun | JSC Simulant POC | 281-244-5128 | rostislav.n.kovtun@nasa.gov |
Ane Slabic | JSC Simulant POC | 281-483-9243 | ane.slabic@nasa.gov |
Jennifer Edmunson | MSFC Simulant POC | 256-544-0721 | jennifer.e.edmunson@nasa.gov |
Doug Rickman | MSFC Simulant POC | 256-650-5422 | douglas.l.rickman@nasa.gov |
Heather Oravec | GRC Simulant POC | 216-433-3432 | heather.a.oravec@nasa.gov |
Julie Kleinhenz | GRC Simulant POC | 216-433-5383 | julie.e.kleinhenz@nasa.gov |
Laurent Sibille | KSC Simulant POC | 321-867-4422 | laurent.sibille-1@nasa.gov |
Importance of high quality simulants
Importance of high quality simulants
Though lunar simulant is not a "technology", every technology being developed for use on the lunar surface needs to be tested with high quality lunar simulants. Currently, there is only a small, scattered supply of lunar simulant "left overs". This project will address the current shortage of lunar simulants and supply appropriate simulants for testing new technologies. These include mineral/chemical simulants (oxygen from regolith, dust toxicity) and mechanical simulants (mobility, excavation, construction) with both lower and higher fidelities for different levels of TRL development.
Making lunar simulants available
Making lunar simulants available
Though lunar simulant is not a "technology", every technology being developed for use on the lunar surface needs to be tested with high quality lunar simulants. Currently, there is only a small, scattered supply of lunar simulant "left overs". This project will address the current shortage of lunar simulants and supply appropriate simulants for testing new technologies. These include mineral/chemical simulants (oxygen from regolith, dust toxicity) and mechanical simulants (mobility, excavation, construction) with both lower and higher fidelities for different levels of TRL development.
Concept of Operations
- Small NASA Simulant Advisory Committee, led by JSC Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES)
- NASA team coordinates simulant requirements based on projects' needs across the agency
- Purchase simulants from existing vendors when possible; government development and production when warranted
- Coordinate with JHU/APL Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium