The same experiments were set up in both simulation and reality to see if the virtual regolith behaved realistically. This test looked at how 16 g samples of material flowed through narrow funnels.Scientists have developed a new computer model that simulates how moon dust behaves in lunar gravity. They hope it will help future robotic moon explorers to do their job more safely.
Other computer models of moon dust have been created before, but those were either too complex and therefore too difficult to run in real, or not realistic enough. The Bristol team's goal was to create something in between, a mechanism that could create useful simulations while not requiring that much computational power to run.
The crew used an earlier, simpler model developed by their colleagues in Germany, which could mimic the density, stickiness and friction of lunar dust as well as recreate the eerie conditions of lunar's. That model, however, could only recreate small amounts of lunar dust, which wasn't sufficient to simulate actual rover operations. The researchers then compared their model with a physical one, using artificial regolith similar in composition to lunar dust.