Lunar Regolith Simulant Database

An Interactive Dashboard for Lunar Regolith Simulant Research

Explore the chemical, mineralogical, and physical properties of over 150 lunar regolith simulants developed by institutions worldwide. An initiative by The Spring Institute for Forests on the Moon, sponsored by CNES Spaceship.

Bridging the Gap from Earth to the Moon

The DIRT project (Development, Industry and Regolith Technologies), led by The Spring Institute for Forests on the Moon and sponsored by CNES Spaceship, presents this interactive database to democratize access to lunar analog research.

As humanity prepares to return to the Moon, testing new technologies with accurate lunar soil analogs is critical. Because actual Apollo, Luna, and Chang’e returned samples are scarce and reserved for specialized science, researchers rely on terrestrial simulants to replicate the physical, mineralogical, and chemical properties of the lunar surface. But there is no one-size-fits-all simulant — materials must be tailored to specific use cases like ISRU, geotechnical engineering, 3D printing, or regolith bioremediation.
This database gives researchers, engineers, and educators a centralized, searchable catalogue of lunar regolith simulants, built for traceability and standardization in space research.

Why This Database?

Lunar Regolith (LR) is scarce. Researchers rely on Lunar Regolith Simulants (LRS) to test technologies for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), construction, and Regolith-Based Agriculture (RBA). This tool makes it simple to find the right simulant for your research, whether you need specific mineralogy, chemistry, or geotechnical properties.
How to Use the Dashboard

  1. Select a view — Use the header buttons to switch between 3D Globe, 2D Map, or Table.
  2. Open the sidebar — Click the menu icon (top-left) to access search, filters, and the full simulant list.
  3. Find a simulant — Type in the search bar or add filters (type, country, availability, etc.) to narrow results.
  4. View details — Click any simulant on the map, globe, or list to open its detail panel with properties, composition charts, and references.
  5.  Compare to lunar samples — In the detail panel, select a lunar reference from the dropdown to overlay real Moon data onto the charts. Click “Full comparison view” for a dedicated comparison.
  6.  Compare two simulants — Check two simulants in the table view and click “Compare”, or use the compare button in the detail panel header.
  7. Export data — Use the export button (bottom-right) to download CSV files of your selection.
  8. Explore the Moon — Toggle to Moon mode to browse Apollo, Luna, and Chang’e landing sites with geotechnical data.
Key Features

 

  • 3D Globe & 2D Map: Explore simulant origins on an interactive 3D globe or a flat map view. Points cluster automatically — click to expand, double-click to zoom in.
  • Moon Mode: Switch to the Moon to view Apollo, Luna, and Chang’e landing sites with mission metadata and in-situ geotechnical measurements.
  • Table View: Browse all simulants in a sortable, searchable table. Select rows, sort by any column, and expand references inline.
  • Advanced Filtering: Filter by simulant type, country, institution, availability, mineral content, chemical oxides, year, and more. Combine multiple filters with AND logic.
  •  Composition Charts: View detailed chemical oxide breakdowns (SiO2, Al2O3, FeO, etc.) and NASA-standardized mineral group classifications for each simulant as bar charts or tables.
  • Lunar Reference Comparison: Overlay actual lunar sample data from Apollo, Luna, or Chang’e missions onto any simulant’s composition charts to evaluate fidelity at a glance.
  • Cross-Comparison Panel: Open a full-screen view comparing a simulant against its lunar reference, with delta values highlighting the differences.
  • Side-by-Side Comparison: Select any two simulants to compare their mineral and chemical compositions directly, with a delta column showing where they diverge.
  • Data Export: Download individual simulants, filtered results, or the full dataset as CSV for offline analysis.
Data Curation & Policy

This tool has been created using AI tools such as Claude Code. All mineral and chemical compositions prioritize primary technical data sheets and peer-reviewed characterization papers. Mineral compositions are validated to sum to 99% or below, and manually curated entries are preserved to prevent automated overwriting. By aggregating this data into a single, FAIR-compliant (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) platform, The Spring Institute and CNES aim to accelerate advancements in lunar construction, oxygen extraction, and bio-regenerative life support systems.

 
Are you developing a novel simulant, or do you have suggestions for the database? We’d love to hear from you — reach out via our [Contact Us] page.