A moderate-Ti lunar mare soil simulant: IGG-01.

Lunar soil simulants play a crucial role in scientific research, payload tests and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) experiments. However, the currently available lunar soil simulants are either low in TiO 2 content (≤3 wt%) or high in TiO 2 content (≥6.7 wt%), despite orbital observations indicating lunar soils with moderate TiO 2 content being widely distributed on the lunar surface. In December 2020, China's Chang'e−5 (CE-5) mission successfully returned a new mare soil sample characterized by high FeO content (22.5 wt%) and moderate TiO 2 content (5.5 wt%), providing an opportunity to develop moderate-TiO 2 lunar soil simulants. This study presents a newly developed simulant of the CE-5 lunar soil named IGG-01, which closely replicates the major physical and chemical properties of the CE-5 lunar soil. The median particle size of IGG-01 is 68.69 ± 4.44 μm, and its estimated specific surface area is 0.34 m2/g. It contains 17.6 wt% FeO and 4.8 wt% TiO 2. It consists of pyroxene (49.3 wt%), plagioclase (40.9 wt%), ilmenite (6.1 wt%), and olivine (3.7 wt%), with specific gravity and bulk density are 3.33 g/cm³ and 1.86 g/cm³, respectively. The friction angle is 41.8°, and the cohesion is 19.2 kPa. It exhibits strong and weak reflectance absorption features in the 1 and 2 μm band centers. The physical properties of IGG-01 are also comparable to those of Apollo samples and typical lunar mare soil simulants. The unique chemical composition of IGG-01 makes it suitable for various scientific and engineering experiments, including but not limited to the study of dusty plasma migration, water formation via solar wind injection, oxygen preparation via hydrogen reduction, and tests involving the movement of rovers and excavation equipment. • A new lunar mare soil simulant (IGG-01) with a TiO 2 content of 4.8 wt% was produced. • It has median grain size of ∼69 μm, bulk density of ∼1.9 g/cm3, cohesion of ∼19 kPa. • It fills the gap between the low-Ti and high-Ti lunar soil simulants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]