NASA's $19M Mission: Simulating Messy Moon Dust

With NASA hoping to set up a lunar outpost by 2020, an unlikely nuisance has become a hot commodity: moon dust. With only 227 pounds of the equipment-clogging stuff available for tests, NASA is pouring $19 million into faking it, the Wall Street Journal reports. "So many people need moon dirt, and there's just not enough to go around,” a project manager says.

Scientists need moon dust for everything from basic medical tests to more outlandish experiments, but it’s more glass-like than its earthly counterpart, thanks to its unique heat-fusion formation. So every year, NASA collects 12 tons of moon-mimicking rock from a Montana mine, subjects it to 30,000-degree heat in a one-of-a-kind plasma furnace, and rips it apart with sonic booms. Instant moon dust—for $35,000 a ton. "It's as good as it gets," a project chief says.
(More moon stories.)