NASA is planning to build a lunar outpost by 2024, but the agency has a nitty-gritty problem to tackle first: jagged, ultraclingy moon dust, which could threaten the entire mission. Apollo astronauts discovered that the dust, with grains roughly the size of powdered glass, quickly jams spacesuit joints, clogs air filters and chokes radiators, causing the batteries of moon rovers to overheat. After a hard day taking giant leaps for mankind, astronauts tracked particles into their modules -- and eventually their lungs -- leaving the moonwalkers congested and dizzy.

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For a colony to survive indefinitely on the moon, scientists must prepare new suits, devices and vehicles that can withstand the rigors of lunar turf. And while the metallic oxides in the dust could yield breathable oxygen, titanium for spare parts, and hard silicon to form landing pads, faulty processing could potentially create caustic acids that would corrode equipment and put lives in jeopardy.

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Unfortunately, NASA has used nearly all 837 pounds of lunar material retrieved during Apollo missions, and the agency's existing supply of fake moon dust, or lunar simulant, is also running short. "To go back to the moon and stars we first need to journey into the Earth," says Chuck Owens, an engineer at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

NASA has contracted with the small Wisconsin-based company Orbitec to produce 16 tons of lunar simulant. Orbitec's process is secret, but it involves material milled from a cinder quarry in Arizona that provides rocks normally used in highway beds.

Problem solved? Not quite. There are different kinds of lunar dust. Some simulants may be suited for drill testing, while others have the right chemical stuff to attempt oxygen and water harvesting. Orbitec's simulant is modeled after lowland lunar dust, but highland dust has its own unique properties. NASA is developing standards for a base-line simulant that could be modified for use in various tests, but it could take years to hammer out the details.

For now, Orbitec is forging ahead, contracting to supply another 15 tons of lunar simulant to clients such as Lockheed Martin and the California Space Authority, which needs to fill a giant sandbox for a $250,000 lunar mining competition.

To moonproof rovers such as the cargo-hauling ATHLETE, NASA will have to create tons of simulated lunar dust.
Apollo 16 commander John Young collects lunar samples by hand.

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