I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
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I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
I have been offered “ashes”, “filth”, “grime”, “birdlime”, “gunk”, and “stickum” 🧐
Not sure what I expected, but we’re now collecting “gunk” from Phobos
(I did ultimately decide "sand" was basically about particle size and not castles and kept it.)
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@dharmadan I do like 'exo-gunk'! Wonder if I'd get that past the team. They might just trust the native English speaker...
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@dharmadan I do like 'exo-gunk'! Wonder if I'd get that past the team. They might just trust the native English speaker...
@dharmadan @elizabethtasker phobogunk, but even phobostickum would be unmistakable
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(I did ultimately decide "sand" was basically about particle size and not castles and kept it.)
@elizabethtasker “rock powder”?
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I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
I have been offered “ashes”, “filth”, “grime”, “birdlime”, “gunk”, and “stickum” 🧐
Not sure what I expected, but we’re now collecting “gunk” from Phobos
@elizabethtasker Gunk, to me, implies sticky and moist, which I'd be surprised if the surface of Phobos was.
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@elizabethtasker Gunk, to me, implies sticky and moist, which I'd be surprised if the surface of Phobos was.
@SometimeHippy Not serious
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@SometimeHippy Not serious
@elizabethtasker I know 🤪
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(I did ultimately decide "sand" was basically about particle size and not castles and kept it.)
@elizabethtasker ok, but can we make sand castles on other worlds more often please? The universe always needs more whimsy.
Yes yes, the sand won't be wet enough to hold together... blah ... maybe it'll be scientifically interesting how it falls and collapses as the bucket is lifted. Lets call it a construction experiment... with crenelations.
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@elizabethtasker “rock powder”?
@deivudesu @elizabethtasker I was thinking "eroded rock" (but that might have too many associations), "crushed rock" - and wondered about "gravel" (but not if the particle size is particularly relevant).
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I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
I have been offered “ashes”, “filth”, “grime”, “birdlime”, “gunk”, and “stickum” 🧐
Not sure what I expected, but we’re now collecting “gunk” from Phobos
Ant's boulders.
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I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
I have been offered “ashes”, “filth”, “grime”, “birdlime”, “gunk”, and “stickum” 🧐
Not sure what I expected, but we’re now collecting “gunk” from Phobos
@elizabethtasker There's "aggregate", although that's also pretty technical.
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@cafuego @elizabethtasker
‘Tatolith -
I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
I have been offered “ashes”, “filth”, “grime”, “birdlime”, “gunk”, and “stickum” 🧐
Not sure what I expected, but we’re now collecting “gunk” from Phobos
@elizabethtasker
Just think- we could say we’re collecting “earth” from Phobos.
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I like regolith though, i think it should be normalised. Bring people to the stars.
@OliviaVespera @elizabethtasker Also a regolith fan, but would like to proffer sediment or exo-sediment as nice alternatives. It gives a sense of "this got here by being ground up from bigger things, but we're not sure how. Yet."
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I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
I have been offered “ashes”, “filth”, “grime”, “birdlime”, “gunk”, and “stickum” 🧐
Not sure what I expected, but we’re now collecting “gunk” from Phobos
@elizabethtasker granules? rockettes?
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I thesaurus’d “sand” to find an alternative word for “regolith” which is more non-scientist friendly but less beachy-Earth-images than “sand”.
I have been offered “ashes”, “filth”, “grime”, “birdlime”, “gunk”, and “stickum” 🧐
Not sure what I expected, but we’re now collecting “gunk” from Phobos
@elizabethtasker The wierdness of Titan challenged all these definitions. I use a combo of composition+size descriptor.
For example, "silicate sands" on Earth, but also "gypsum sands" (like White Sands, New Mexico).
On Titan, mostly "organic sands". But there are also rare patches of "water ice sands", too.
Size-sorting is done by wind (Earth, Mars, Titan) and liquid (water for Earth and Mars, methane-nitrogen for Titan).
But without sorting (impact stuff), maybe "rock particles" would work?
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@elizabethtasker The wierdness of Titan challenged all these definitions. I use a combo of composition+size descriptor.
For example, "silicate sands" on Earth, but also "gypsum sands" (like White Sands, New Mexico).
On Titan, mostly "organic sands". But there are also rare patches of "water ice sands", too.
Size-sorting is done by wind (Earth, Mars, Titan) and liquid (water for Earth and Mars, methane-nitrogen for Titan).
But without sorting (impact stuff), maybe "rock particles" would work?
@elizabethtasker (whenever I hear the term "gunk" I always think of refractory highly colored organics you find on outer solar system comets and worlds: "Tholins" "tholin gunk" "organic gunk". I'm not sure how much there would be on Phobos, probably a little, but is it enough to make a big difference in properties?)
((I've definitely been in meetings and conferences where "tholin gunk" + shrug of shoulders is because nobody knows what the actual chemical structures are.))
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