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    Martian and asteroid soil tagged posts

    Experimental Martian Dirt: Researchers publish recipe for Martian and Asteriod Simulant

    October 2, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Two hands wearing blue gloves hold a metal bowl containing red-brown dirt to pour into another metal container. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Central Florida

    Two hands wearing blue gloves hold a metal bowl containing red-brown dirt to pour into another metal container.
    Credit: Image courtesy of University of Central Florida

    The University of Central Florida is selling Martian dirt, $20 a kilogram plus shipping. 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.

    The team published its findings this month in the journal Icarus “The simulant is useful for research as we look to go to Mars,” said Physics Professor Dan Britt, a member of UCF’s Planetary Sciences Group. “If we are going to go, we’ll need food, water and other essentials. As we are developing solutions, we need a way to test how these ideas will fare.”

    For example, sci...

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