Two Lunar Mare Soil Simulants

: Two new lunar mare soil simulants, NAO-2 and NAO-3, have been created in National Astronomical Observatories (NAO), Chinese Academy of Sciences. These two simulants were produced from low-titanium basalt and high-titanium basalt respectively. The chemical composition, mineralogy, particle size distribution, density, angle of internal friction, and cohesion of both simulants have been analyzed, indicating that some characteristics of NAO-2 and NAO-3 are similar to those of Apollo 14 and Apollo 11 landing site soils. NAO-2 and NAO-3 will be of great benefit to the scientific and engineering research on lunar soil.