Blended Regolith Simulant Material and Method of Making the Material

A method comprising the steps of:

• blending a first part comprising a low-density fine particulate material additive with a second part comprising original regolith simulant material for producing a lower bulk density blended regolith simulant material having gravity-driven flow properties that resemble those that the original regolith material would have under a reduced gravity of a target extraterrestrial body.

A blended regolith simulant material comprising:

• one part by volume of original regolith simulant material to N parts by volume of a low-density fine particulate material additive, where N is generally greater than one less than the ratio of the gravitational acceleration on the surface of the earth to the gravitational acceleration on the surface of a target extraterrestrial body and generally lies in the range obtained from the formula (F−1)−N≦ρs(F−1)/(ρs−Fρb), where F is the ratio of gravitational acceleration on earth to that on the target extraterrestrial body, ρs is the bulk density of original regolith simulant material, and ρb is the bulk density of the low-density fine particulate additive.