Development of TJ-1 lunar soil simulant

Tongji-1 lunar soil simulant (TJ-1 for short), which is originated from red volcanic ashes from Jingyu County, Jilin Province, was recently invented by drying, crushing, sieving and adjusting the gradation. Physical and mechanical properties of TJ-1 lunar soil simulant (e.g., mineralogy composition, shape of particles, density, specific gravity, internal friction angle, cohesion, compression index, dynamic shear modulus, damping ratio and moisture absorption properties) are measured. TJ-1 demonstrates certain similarity to lunar regolith in terms of physical and mechanical properties, and it is an ideal substitute of lunar regolith located from 0 to 30 cm below the lunar surface in the mare region on the moon. Compared with other simulants introduced in the literatures, TJ-1 has an internal friction angle as high as 45° and hence is advantageous over other simulants when high shear strength is desired.