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Developed By: University of Central Florida
Available From: CLASS Exolith Lab
Publications: Cannon, K. M., D. T. Britt, T. M. Smith, R. F. Fritsche, and D. Batcheldor (2019), Mars Global Simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based Open Standard for Basaltic Martian Regolith Simulants. Icarus, 317, 470-478.
MGS-1C is a modified version of the root MGS-1 simulant, and is enriched in hydrated clay minerals (smectite). This represents the Reference Case “C” in the NASA Mars Water In-Situ Resource Utilization Study.
MGS-1C is specifically designed for ISRU water extraction studies; the M-WIP study concluded that hydrated clay deposits are advantageous for water extraction on Mars, and may be much easier to access and excavate than permafrost deposits.
Mineralogy
Mineral | Wt.% |
---|---|
Smectite | 40.0 |
Plagioclase | 16.4 |
Glass-rich basalt | 13.7 |
Pyroxene | 12.2 |
Olivine | 8.2 |
Mg-sulfate | 2.4 |
Ferrihydrite | 2.1 |
Hydrated silica | 1.8 |
Magnetite | 1.1 |
Anhydrite | 1.0 |
Fe-carbonate | 0.8 |
Hematite | 0.3 |
Bulk Chemistry
Oxide | Wt% |
SiO2 | 44.8 |
Al2O3 | 9.8 |
CaO | 15.3 |
Fe2O3 | 12 |
K2O | 3.4 |
MgO | 9.9 |
MnO | 0.1 |
P2O5 | 1 |
TiO2 | 0.4 |
SO3 | 2.3 |
Cl | 0.5 |
Cr2O3 | 0.1 |
NiO | 0.1 |
SrO | 0.2 |
Total | 99.9 |
Physical Properties
Particle size range: 0-1 mm
Mean particle size (by volume): 24 μm
Photo Credit: Matthew Villegas, Exolith Lab