{"id":18298,"date":"2018-10-25T23:23:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T15:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/crowdfunding-campaign-lets-you-snag-simulated-moon-dirt-but-handle-with-care\/"},"modified":"2018-10-25T23:23:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25T15:23:12","slug":"crowdfunding-campaign-lets-you-snag-simulated-moon-dirt-but-handle-with-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/crowdfunding-campaign-lets-you-snag-simulated-moon-dirt-but-handle-with-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdfunding campaign lets you snag simulated moon dirt \u2014 but handle with care"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_457705\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-457705\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-457705\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant1-630x477.jpg\" alt=\"Simulated moon dirt\" width=\"630\" height=\"477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant1-630x477.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant1-768x581.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant1.jpg 1194w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-457705\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Off Planet Research makes simulated moon dirt by the bagful. (Off Planet Research Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Wanna buy some fake moon dirt? Off Planet Research, which manufactures loads of the stuff, is making it available for public consumption&nbsp;\u2014 but make sure you don\u2019t eat it or breathe it in.<\/p>\n<p>The research facility in Lacey, Wash., specializes in making types of soil that simulate what\u2019s found on the lunar surface. Off Planet mixes up blends of earthly ingredients, including crushed rock, so that students and scientists can learn how humans and their hardware would fare in the lunar environment.<\/p>\n<p>Two main varieties of lunar simulants are on the menu: a dark-colored blend that reflects the composition of the lunar lowlands, or maria, and a lighter-colored type of soil that mimics the moon\u2019s highlands.<\/p>\n<p>Off Planet also makes a frosty concoction that blends water ice and soil, based on findings from NASA\u2019s LCROSS impact experiment. That simulant, OPRFLCROSS1, can be used to test equipment designed to extract water on the moon.<\/p>\n<p>To ensure quality control, Off Planet typically rents its soil rather than selling it. Institutional users pay a monthly charge of $50 to $300 per kilogram, depending on the type of simulant, said Lauren Roux, one of the company\u2019s researchers. \u201cWe expect the material to come back,\u201d she told GeekWire.<\/p>\n<p>The European Space Agency is Off Planet\u2019s biggest customer. \u201cESA has quite a bit of our simulant that they\u2019re running through,\u201d Roux said.<\/p>\n<p>Now the company is giving out limited quantities of its simulants as rewards for Indiegogo contributions. For as little as $99, contributors can get a vial of simulant, with their choice of lowland or highland dirt, plus a T-shirt.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Off Planet Research IndieGoGo 2018\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VEB68gRMPGw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A $299 contribution will get you a \u201cZen garden\u201d with fake moon dirt and either basalt or anorthosite rocks (from Earth, not the moon). And for $999, you can get a plant-growing experiment, complete with pots that contain two types of simulant plus earthly dirt for comparison.<\/p>\n<p>Off Planet is aiming to raise $30,000 by December.&nbsp;The money will help Off Planet\u2019s researchers expand their lab space, upgrade their equipment, attend conferences and provide support to the scientific community.<\/p>\n<p>Making moon dirt, also known as lunar regolith, isn\u2019t merely a matter of mixing up garden-variety soil. Dirt gets weathered by the action of wind and water on Earth, but not on the moon. As a result, lunar soil particles tend to be sharp and splintered. To reproduce those characteristics on Earth, Off Planet has to grind up basalt and other types of rock for mixing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt takes a lot of specialized crushing to make sure it\u2019s like the regolith on the moon,\u201d Roux said.<\/p>\n<p>Because of its abrasive qualities, actual moon dirt can be bad for your health. Like asbestos or volcanic ash, moon dust can penetrate deep into the lungs. The dark dust that the Apollo moonwalkers carried back in with them irritated their eyes and their airways, causing a condition known as \u201clunar hay fever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prolonged exposure to the dust could lead to more serious respiratory conditions, ranging from bronchitis to elevated cancer risk, researchers report.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_457706\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-457706\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-457706\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant2-630x417.jpg\" alt=\"Vials of lunar simulant\" width=\"630\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant2-630x417.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant2-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant2-1260x834.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/181025-simulant2.jpg 1357w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-457706\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vials of simulated moon dirt serve as rewards in a crowdfunding campaign. (Off Planet Research Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The potential health risk is one reason why experimenters want to study the characteristics of lunar simulant, and it\u2019s also a reason why Off Planet has been careful about distributing the simulated stuff to the general public. One of Off Planet\u2019s founders, Vince Roux (Lauren\u2019s father), compares moon dust\u2019s potential effect to \u201cplaying in a sandbox with razor blades.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other companies in the simulant business take a similarly cautious approach. For example, Exolith Lab \u2014 a venture associated with the University of Central Florida\u2019s Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science \u2014 sells soils that simulate dirt from the moon, Mars or asteroids for $20 a kilogram. But those products are sold only to institutions, including NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center, and not to private individuals.<\/p>\n<p>If fake moon dirt just isn\u2019t good enough, it\u2019s possible to buy the real thing. But it\u2019ll cost you. Last year, an Apollo 11 sample bag that contained mere traces of moon dust was auctioned off for $1.8 million. Moon meteorites draw a premium as well: Last week, a fragmented 12-pound lunar meteorite sold for more than $600,000.<\/p>\n<p>On the other end of the spectrum, you could buy a bit of moon rock enclosed in a display box for as little as $40 from the likes of LunarLand.com. But calling it a \u201crock\u201d would be a stretch. The company says its lunar meteorite specimens weigh about 12 milligrams&nbsp;\u2014 which is roughly the weight of a coarse grain of sand. That\u2019s one small step for rock collecting, one giant leap for marketing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Off Planet Research makes simulated moon dirt by the bagful. (Off Planet Research Photo) Wanna buy some fake moon dirt? Off Planet Research, which manufactures loads of the stuff, is making it available for public consumption&nbsp;\u2014 but make sure you don\u2019t eat it or breathe it in. The research facility in Lacey, Wash., specializes in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[625,4639],"class_list":["post-18298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-moon","tag-off-planet-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18298"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}