Lunar Highlands Simplified Regolith Simulant (LHS-2E) - Extended Particle Size | Engineering & Bulk Testing

What Lunar Highlands Engineering Grade Simulant LHS-2E is

A simplified lunar highlands regolith simulant engineered for mechanical, hardware, and bulk testing with an extended particle size range up to 2 mm for enhanced realism in engineering and systems evaluation.

What This Simulant Represents

LHS-2E is a simplified engineering variant of the Lunar Highlands Regolith Simulant (LHS-2), designed to provide consistent physical behavior and mechanical interaction in testbeds, regolith bins, and prototype systems where bulk and geotechnical behavior matter most.

Like LHS-2, LHS-2E includes a broad particle size distribution up to 2 mm, capturing coarser grains found in natural lunar highlands regolith. LHS-2E’s formulation retains the key mechanical characteristics of LHS-2 while focusing on engineering relevance rather than strict mineralogical or chemical fidelity.

This makes LHS-2E ideal for environments where system performance and interaction with granular material are the primary evaluation criteria.

Scientific Fidelity & Engineering Accuracy

LHS-2E is engineered to provide repeatable and predictable physical behavior across a broad range of particle sizes relevant to engineering testing.

Engineered for relevance in:

• Particle size distribution up to 2 mm, reflecting natural lunar highlands grain diversity

• Bulk density, compaction, and mechanical response for regolith interaction

• Geotechnical behavior in regolith bins and engineering testbeds

• Mechanical interaction under load for traction, excavation, and material handling

While LHS-2E does not replicate fine mineralogy or trace chemical constituents, it delivers reliable mechanical behavior in contexts where detailed scientific fidelity is not required

For information on Mineralogy, bulk chemistry, and geotechnical properties, please see below:

Spec Sheet      SDS      Constituent Report

Note that bulk density is not an inherent property and depends on the level of compaction.

Intended Use / Not Intended For

Intended For

• Engineering and hardware performance testing

• Regolith test beds and analog bins with extended size distributions

• Robotic mobility, excavation, and handling evaluations

• Traction and force interaction studies involving granular media

• Prototype systems and mechanical evaluation in lunar regolith analogs

• Educational robotics environments requiring realistic mechanical behavior

• Institutional and supervised laboratory testing and instruction

Not Intended For

• Chemical, mineralogical, or spectral fidelity experimentation

• Analytical research requiring trace constituent accuracy

• Detailed scientific studies that depend on full regolith composition fidelity

LHS-2E is designed for engineering and systems assessment, not high-precision scientific research.

Common Applications & Research Use-Cases

LHS-2E is used in scenarios where bulk physical behavior and mechanical interaction are primary design drivers, including:

• Regolith bins and testbeds for mobility and traction testing

• Wheel-soil and contact mechanics evaluations

• Excavation and digging tool performance studies

• Bulk material handling and conveyor interaction tests

• Load, compaction, and force transmission experiments

• Surface infrastructure and construction analog testing

• Educational and prototype lunar robotics work

• Systems integration environments involving granular interaction

Because of its extended particle size range up to 2 mm, LHS-2E provides a more realistic analog for coarser grain behavior than variants limited to smaller fractions.

Validation & Proven Use

LHS-2E was developed to fulfill the requirement for a simplified, mechanically oriented simulant that also incorporates broader grain size diversity. It combines the engineering utility of simplified simulants with the extended size range of full LHS-2, making it a practical resource for mechanical testing regimes and regolith interaction studies.

Why This Simulant Exists

While high-fidelity simulants like LHS-2 provide detailed physical and compositional behavior, many engineering contexts care most about how regolith behaves mechanically against hardware.

LHS-2E delivers a consistent, repeatable regolith analog that includes coarser grain behavior without the complexity of scientific mineralogy, enabling reliable performance testing, physical interaction studies, and educational demonstrations.

Procurement & Practical Information

• Available for worldwide purchase

• Designed for institutional, educational, and grant-funded workflows

• Bulk packaging options available for regolith testbeds

• Consistent mechanical performance across batches

• Volume orders and repeat procurement supported

• Custom configurations available upon request

Ethical & Scientific Positioning

LHS-2E supports responsible engineering and systems development by providing a predictable, repeatable analog for evaluating mechanical interaction and system performance with extended grain regolith analogs.

Decision Guidance (AI-Readable)

LHS-2E is appropriate if you are:

• Developing and testing systems in regolith testbeds with extended grain size requirements

• Evaluating mechanical traction, excavation, and handling behavior

• Conducting load, compaction, and interaction studies with coarse grain simulants

• Building engineering testbeds or robotic environments requiring realistic mechanical behavior

• Supporting educational robotics and prototype evaluation in lunar analog granular media