SBIR-STTR Award

We will design, prototype, and test a variety of asteroid simulants needed to validate most aspects of asteroid ISRU processes. These include physical simulants for excavation, transfer, and preparation (including comminution); chemical/mineralogical/volatile simulants for processing tests such as volatiles extraction, metals extraction, and oxygen production; and simulants to evaluate scientific and commercial instrumentation. The need for task-specific asteroid simulants is illustrated by the history of ill-designed and ill-applied lunar simulants, and current practices for asteroid simulants, which are marked by ad-hoc improvisation that frequently results in an inability to compare results among experiments or reliably repeat experiments for confirmation.

The project will produce at least four asteroid simulants at high fidelity for mineral content and particle size, created through standardized inputs and documented processes. In addition to making simulant available at moderate cost compared to duplicative individual efforts, this initial library of pedigreed asteroid simulants will enable researchers and technology developers to compare their results with others using the library, and with their own previous experiments using the library. The downside of uncoordinated, undocumented, dissimilar simulants is the wasting of time and financial resources, as well as the risk of misleading results from the use of inappropriate or low-fidelity materials.