Rovers, regolith, robots: The blueprint for the moon

The "soil" blanketing the moon's surface isn't actually soil.

It's a fine, lethal, abrasive powder of shattered rock and jagged glass that shreds gaskets, chews through seals, and hangs in an airless environment blasted by unfiltered radiation and temperature swings that can warp steel.

Scientists call it lunar regolith. ...