Overview

Overview

GreenSpar anorthosite is utilized as a lunar highlands simulant. Hudson Resources, Inc. is mining surface exposed anorthosite with their White Mountain Anorthosite Project, located approximately 85 km southwest of Kangerlussuaq in Greenland. This material is referred to as the Qaqortorsuaq anorthosite, found in Archean basement rocks, and report a CIPW plagioclase content of 94 wt.% with an AN number of 83, similar to that of the lunar highlands. This material is primarily mined for E-glass, paint, coating fillers, alumina, and white cement. The mine has a ~2-3 week delivery time frame from site and is among the most readily-available sources of large quantities of anorthosite. The GreenSpar product is available in two size ranges, GreenSpar 250 (< 250 µm) and GreenSpar 90 (< 90 µm).

Pros and Cons

Pros and Cons

Pros

Pros

• Available in two size ranges (< 90 μm and < 250 μm)
• The quartz content in the material increases its hardness, making it a strong abradant
• Has similar mechanical properties to lunar regolith
• Similar composition to lunar highlands regolith

Cons

Cons

• Does not replicate the particle size distribution of lunar regolith/only available in small particle sizes
• No agglutinate or glass component

General Properties

General Properties

General Properties

General Properties

Particle Shape Range	Particle Size Range (μm)	Mean Particle Size (μm)
angular to subrounded	< 5 - 250 μm	-

Particle Size Distribution (by site/sample)	Chemical Composition (by sample/site)	Mineralogical Composition
Apollo 16 soil & lunar highlands meteorites[1]	-	-

Texture
High plagioclase content, high hardness and abrasion resistance

Modal Mineralogy

Modal Mineralogy

Mineral	Apollo 16 64001/64002 (%)[2]	Abundance (%)
Lithic fragments	31.1	-
Glass	8.9	-
Agglutinates	32.5	-
Plagioclase	23.3	> 90 vol%
Olivine	-	-
Clinopyroxene	0.6	-
Orthopyroxene	3.2	-
Spinel minerals	0.03	-
Fe-sulfide	0.01	-
Ca-phosphates	0.12	-
Ilmenite	0.1	-
Native iron	0.01	-
Other (sim. only)	-	-
Total	100	-

Major Element Chemistry

Major Element Chemistry

Oxide	Apollo 16 Avg. Soil wt. % [3]	GreenSpar[1]	GreenSpar (Hudson Resources)
SiO2	45	50.18	50.69
Al2O3	26.7	30.88	30.47
Fe2O3	-	0.49	0.44
MgO	6.14	0.19	0.31
CaO	15.3	14.58	14.64
Na2O	0.457	2.63	2.44
K2O	0.12	0.23	0.19
TiO2	0.595	0.05	-
P2O5	-	0.01	-
MnO	-	< 0.01	-
Cr2O3	-	< 0.01	-
V2O5	-	< 0.01	-
LOI + H2O		-	0.67

Geomechanical and Physical Properties

Geomechanical and Physical Properties

Geomechanical Properties

Geomechanical Properties

Hardness (Mohs scale)	Specific Gravity (g/cm3)	Angle of Repose (°)	Void Ratio
6-6.5	2.6	-	-

Density (g/cm3)
Bulk	Relative Max	Relative Min
-	-	-

Triaxial: Shear Strength		Uniaxial
Cohesion (kPa)	Friction Angle (°)	Young's Modulus (MPa)	Tensile Strength (kPa)
-	-	-	-

Simulant Development
Lab Analytical Results

Simulant Development
Lab Analytical Results

Safety

Safety

Recommendation

Recommendation

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Gruener, J. E., Deitrick, S. R., Tu, V. M., Clark, J. V., Ming, D. W., & Cambon, J. (2020). Greenland'White Mountain'Anorthosite: A New Lunar Polar Regolith Simulant Component. LPI, (2326), 2867.
2. ↑ Schrader, C. M., Rickman, D. L., McLemore, C. A., and Fikes, J. C. (2010). Lunar Regolith Simulant User's Guide. NASA/TM-2010-216446
3. ↑ Korotev, R. L., Morris, R. V., Jolliff, B. L., & Schwarz, C. (1997). Lithological variation with depth and decoupling of maturity parameters in Apollo 16 regolith core 68001/2. Geochimica et cosmochimica acta, 61(14), 2989-3002.