With the launch of Artemis 1, the new Moon race has kicked into a higher gear. Government agencies like NASA are joining private companies to return to our trusty satellite and potentially usher in a new lunar economy. And to prep for all these missions, they’re relying on an unsung hero of the Moon biz: lunar regolith simulant, or fake Moon dirt. We acquired some real samples of fake lunar regolith from the Exolith lab at the University of Central Florida, and put it to the test to demonstrate a phenomenon that could jeopardize our grandest ambitions for the Moon.

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0:00 Intro
0:27 What is lunar regolith simulant?
0:57 What the Apollo missions taught us about lunar regolith
2:18 The new race to the Moon
2:56 How to make fake Moon dirt
4:18 Experiments with lunar regolith simulant
4:51 Landing a rocket on the Moon
7:00 The potential geopolitics of Moon dust
8:04 Looking to the Moon & beyond
9:05 Outro & Credits

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