About Us
Get in touch: exolithlab@ucf.edu
The Exolith Lab is a not for profit extension of CLASS, dedicated to regolith simulant production and applied research. Simulant costs cover materials, facilities, and labor.
We also maintain the Planetary Simulant Database as a resource for the community, with information on historic and current planetary simulants. We are happy to provide free consulting on simulants, in partnership with the ESA Sample Analogue Curation Facility.
What is Simulated?. A brief fact sheet on what our simulants do and don’t emulate about the extraterrestrial regoliths they’re based on.
Plant Growth in Simulants. Some tips for growing plants based on initial experiments by simulant users.
Publications
Britt, D. T., K. M. Cannon, K. Donaldson Hanna, J. Hogancamp, O. Poch, P. Beck, D. Martin, J. Escrig, L. Bonal, and P. T. Metzger (2019), Simulated asteroid materials based on carbonaceous chondrite mineralogies. MAPS, in press
Metzger, P. T., D. T. Britt, S. Covey, C. Schultz, K. M. Cannon, K. D. Grossman, J. G. Mantovani, and R. P. Mueller (2019), Measuring the fidelity of asteroid regolith and cobble simulants. Icarus, 321, 632-646.
Cannon, K. M., D. T. Britt, T. M. Smith, R. F. Fritsche, and D. Batcheldor (2019), Mars Global Simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based Open Standard for Basaltic Martian Regolith Simulants. Icarus, 317, 470-478.
People
Dr. Kevin Cannon – Founder, simulant development, operations
Prof. Dan Britt – CLASS PI
Makayla Peppin, Alex Perruci – Undergraduate Researchers
NB: Due to extreme demand we are not accepting new simulant requests at this time
High-fidelity Regolith Simulants
The martian, lunar and asteroid simulants listed below are currently available for research and STEM education purposes. We are open to collaborative projects and teaming on proposals, and can provide letters of support.
Current stats: 2028 kg of simulants delivered to 316 customers in 31 countries. 756 kg on order.
Fulfillment times depend on request size and our current queue.
Y-series Exploration Simulants
The Y-series is a group of specialty simulants with an exploration focus. Because of challenges with production and shipping, these materials are only distributed within the United States and have special restrictions that are listed below.
DUST-Y Silicate Dust Simulant
DUST-Y is a physical silicate dust simulant with particle sizes dominated by the 1-10 micron fraction. It is appropriate for the Moon or Mars, and particles are angular due to the rapid crushing used in its production.
We have a very small supply of DUST-Y, and currently cannot handle large (>10 kg) requests.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg |  |
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Bulk Simulants
Our bulk simulants are available worldwide in any amount.
Pilot study pricing: up to 1 kg of a single bulk simulant type is available for free within the United States as a one-time offer for research purposes only.
MGS-1 Mars Global Simulant
Global basaltic soil based on the mineralogy of the Rocknest target at Gale crater.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg | |
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MGS-1S Sulfate ISRU
A modified version of MGS-1 based on the polyhydrated sulfate reference case from the NASA Mars Water In-Situ Resource Utilization Study.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg | |
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MGS-1C Clay ISRU
A modified version of MGS-1 based on the hydrated clay reference case from the NASA Mars Water In-Situ Resource Utilization Study.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg | |
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JEZ-1 Jezero Delta Simulant
Represents the olivine-clay-carbonate mineral assemblage observed in the Jezero crater delta deposits to be investigated by the Mars 2020 rover. Mineral abundances constrained by orbital remote sensing and are mixed with MGS-1 as the base material.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg | |
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LHS-1 Lunar Highlands Simulant
Generic highlands soil with a particle size distribution based on Apollo 16 samples.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg | |
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LMS-1 Lunar Mare Simulant
Moderate-Ti mare soil with a particle size distribution based on Apollo samples.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg | |
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CI Asteroid Simulant
Based on the mineralogy of the Orgueil CI carbonaceous chondrite.
| Pricing | Spec Sheet | SDS | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| $25/kg | |
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