The Challenge with Lunar Regolith

High-fidelity lunar regolith simulant is an engineered terrestrial material chemically, mineralogically, and physically formulated to match actual Moon dust returned by Apollo and lunar missions.

Derived from earthbound basalt, olivine, and synthetic glasses, it replicates as close as possible the exact particle distribution, extreme hardness, density, and optical behavior of genuine lunar soil.  Developing the first artist-grade oil paint from this material required bridging the historical tradition of paint-making with state-of-the-art material engineering. Despite decades of available simulants, transforming this abrasive, glass-heavy soil into a usable, economical, artist-grade paint didn't exist until now.

Optical Behavior & Particle Reduction

Lunar soil consists of over 50% agglutinitic glass. While dry regolith appears light grey due to light scattering across micro-fractures, wetting it collapses this scattering, darkening the paint to a deep, transparent grey.

Extreme Hardness: Rich in olivine (Mohs 6.5–7, equivalent to a hardened steel file), the simulant resists conventional grinding. High-energy milling fractures particles trapped at contact points, driving them down to sub-micron scales for stable dispersion.

High-Shear Dispersion

After refining to <30 microns with an average particle size of 6 microns, dry powder must be forcibly wetted to drive oil into every microscopic irregularity.

A custom-built high-shear disperser (calibrated for specific blade geometry, immersion depth, rotational speed, and pigment-to-oil ratios) unlocked the precise operational window required to turn dense regolith simulant into usable paint.

Thixotropic Stabilization

Heavy lunar minerals rapidly settle inside tubes, despite how well mulled they are, forming irreversible "hard cake."

A lot of paint makers sacrafice quality for stabization of heavy pigments by using suboptimal substituions: beeswax softens the paint film; chalk dilutes color strength; aluminum stearate retards drying.

The Solution: 1% of Fumed silica. This chemically inert medium creates a thixotropic network: holding heavy particles in suspension at rest, but collapsing under the shear of a paintbrush for effortless flow—preserving the unique optical and tactile identity of lunar pigment.