ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) has been granted a patent for inventing a method to manufacture artificial moon soil on earth (which is officially called “highland lunar soil simulant”). This patent is conferred by Indian Patent Office on May 18, 2020 which is valid for 20 years from the date of filing the patent application, i.e., May 15, 2014. During the Chandrayaan-2 moon mission testing, ISRO had to prepare lunar surface here on the Earth itself.
The Making of Artificial Moon Soil on Earth
Manufacturing artificial moon soil on earth is not an easy task otherwise there would be no need for a patent. The composition of moon soil is very complex compared to the soil on earth. In order to prepare artificial moon soil on earth, ISRO had to be aware of some important factors of moon soil such as – mineralogy, bulk chemistry, grain size distribution, and geo-mechanical properties.
To meet all these factors ISRO was looking for importing moon soil-like substance but that seemed a costly affair and then ISRO had to be self-reliant. And finally, ISRO found out the alternative of anorthosite-rich rocks from two villages of Tamil Nadu, India.
These rocks were crushed fine to meet the grain size requirement. This soil was then used to test the Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover in ISRO’s Lunar Terrain Test Facility located in Bengaluru.
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What is Highlands?
Moon’s 83% of the surface is covered with treacherous areas called lunar highlands. This area is mainly made of anorthosites. It is Highlands where the craters, cavities, and mountains exist on the moon. It is not that only ISRO has manufactured moon soil till now, other space agencies have also done that but they have created lunar soil resembling to the soil from the flat area of the Moon (lunar mare region) and not from highlands region.
Does Moon Soil Have a Name?
Lunar soil is called regolith and it is very different from the terrestrial soil. The main reason that accounts for this significant difference is that moon’s surface unlike earth is highly exposed to myriad meteoric impacts.
The formation process of regolith includes comminution, agglutination, solar wind sputtering, and cosmic ray spallation as some major steps.
“Lunar dust” which is finer than the “lunar soil” poses a great danger to astronauts and is a big hurdle in space expeditions.
What is Next With Artificial Moon Soil On Earth
Artificial moon soil used at Lunar Terrain Test Facility will be helpful for scientific studies of lunar terrain for the next moon mission of India – Chandrayaan-3, supposed to be launched at the end of this year or in early 2021. ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 was not a successful mission but the orbiter from the second moon mission is still working as anticipated.
Do We Have Actual Lunar Soil On Earth
NASA collected some 360 kilograms (790 lb) of lunar rock samples from six landing sites during Apollo missions. The material was kept initially in a vacuum but however, the material got contaminated and finally moon soil was put up for sale.
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Artificial Moon Soil – Conclusion
The highland lunar soil simulant by ISRO referred to as Made in India “moon soil” will pave the way for fundamental research work on the lunar surface. Future moon explorations will become easier with the study of the physical and chemical properties of artificial moon soil.