Patent — available for licensing
Improved Lunar Regolith Simulant Ion Implantation
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
The production of high-fidelity extraterrestrial regolith simulants is important for the development of future in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and remote sensing technologies. For these materials, the mechanical properties can be readily replicated but the absorbed material, electrostatic, and dielectric properties of lunar, Martian, or asteroid regolith can be difficult to simulate. Innovators at the NASA Kennedy Space Center have developed a methodology and system that can implant helium, hydrogen, and other ions in regolith simulants to emulate the exposure of the simulated regolith to phenomena like solar winds. The system has been successfully prototyped and demonstrated to implant helium ions in simulated regolith and advancements in the material processing have led to low levels of contaminants in the regolith. The ion implanted regolith may be used to develop advanced ISRU, in-space mining, and remote sensing technologies.