{"id":90910,"date":"2018-09-27T13:12:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T17:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=90910"},"modified":"2019-06-07T11:55:54","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T15:55:54","slug":"ucf-experimental-martian-dirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-experimental-martian-dirt\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Selling Experimental Martian Dirt \u2014 $20 a Kilogram, Plus Shipping"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Central Florida is selling Martian dirt, $20 a kilogram plus shipping.<\/p>\n

This is not fake news. A team of UCF astrophysicists has developed a scientifically based, standardized method for creating Martian and asteroid soil known as simulants.<\/p>\n

The team published its findings this month in the journal Icarus<\/em>. <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe simulant is useful for research as we look to go to Mars,\u201d says Physics Professor Dan Britt, a member of UCF\u2019s Planetary Sciences Group<\/a>. \u201cIf we are going to go, we\u2019ll need food, water and other essentials. As we are developing solutions, we need a way to test how these ideas will fare.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, scientists looking for ways to grow food on Mars \u2014 cue the 2015 film The Martian<\/em> \u2014 need to test their techniques on soil that most closely resembles the stuff on Mars.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t want to discover that your method didn\u2019t work when we are actually there,\u201d Britt says. \u201cWhat would you do then? It takes years to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCF\u2019s formula is based on the chemical signature of the soils on Mars collected by the Curiosity rover. Britt built two calibration targets that were part of Curiosity rover.<\/a><\/p>\n

Researchers currently use simulants that aren\u2019t standardized, so any experiment can\u2019t be compared to another in an apples-to-apples kind of way, Britt says.<\/p>\n

As a geologist and a physicist, he knows his dirt. Like a recipe, the ingredients can be mixed in different ways to mimic soil from various objects, including asteroids and planets. And because the formula is based on scientific methods and is published for all to use, even those not ordering through UCF can create dirt that can be used for experiments, which reduces the uncertainty level.<\/p>\n

Kevin Cannon, the paper\u2019s lead author and a post-doctoral researcher who works with Britt at UCF, says there are different types of soil on Mars and on asteroids. On Earth, for example, we have black sand, white sand, clay and topsoil to name a few. On other worlds, you might find carbon-rich soils, clay-rich soils and salt-rich soils, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this technique, we can produce many variations,\u201d Cannon says. \u201cMost of the minerals we need are found on Earth although some are very difficult to obtain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cannon is in Montana to collect ingredients for a moon simulant this week. Moon and asteroid materials are rare and expensive on Earth since they arrived via meteorites in small amounts. That\u2019s why asteroid and moon simulants are also on the list of items that can be ordered. The UCF team can mimic most ingredients and will substitute for any potentially harmful materials. All simulants produced in the lab meet NASA\u2019s safety standards.<\/p>\n

Britt and Cannon believe there is a market for the simulant<\/a>. At $20 a kilogram, plus shipping, it may be easier to send UCF an order, than to try and make it in labs across the nation.<\/p>\n

The team already has about 30 pending orders, including one from Kennedy Space Center for half a ton.<\/p>\n

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