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| − | {{Stub}}<BR/>[[Image:658px-Moon_Comp_Graph.JPG|thumb|Relative Concentration Of Various Elements On The Lunar Surface]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[Lunar Regolith]] |
| − | [[Image:800px-Moon_VS_Earth_Composition.JPG|thumb|Relative Concentration (in weight ppm) of Various Elements on Lunar Highlands, Lunar Lowlands, and Earth]]
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| − | The layer of debris which blankets most of the moon is commonly refered to as regolith. Billions of years of bombardment from space has created a highly comminuted (this means it has been broken into ever smaller grains and particles) surface through a process sometimes referered to as "impact gardening" or "space weathering." It is estimated that the regolith varies in thickness from 3 to 5 meters over the younger "maria" to approximatly 10 to 20 meters thick in the older "highlands." Below the impact regolith is a layer of "mega-regolith" consisting of highly fractered bedrock that is tens of kilometers thick.
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| − | <BR/><BR/>
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| − | The portion of the regolith of a size less than 1cm is generally referred to as [[Lunar Soil]], and the dusty, abrasive portion is referred to as [[Lunar Dust]] or "Fines."
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| − | <BR/><BR/>
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| − | Lunar regolith is the focus of many proposed methods if in-situ resource utilization including:
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| − | *[[Ilmenite Reduction]]
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| − | *[[Glass Reduction]]
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| − | *[[Radiation shielding]]
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| − | *[[Volatile scavenging]]
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| − | ==External Links==
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| − | Lunar Soil at Wikipedia.org [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_soil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_soil]<BR/>
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| − | PERMANENT.com [http://permanent.com/ http://permanent.com/]<BR/>
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| − | ISRU on the Moon. by Larry Taylor [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_knowledge/LTaylor.pdf http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_knowledge/LTaylor.pdf]<BR/>
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| − | [[Category:Selenology]]
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