Washington, Feb 5 Scientists from the US Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA are literally cooking up a recipe for developing a substitute for moondust.

In support of NASA's future lunar exploration, the USGS is working with NASA to develop a realistic moondust substitute, or simulant.

Team members pound on boulder sized rocks to break them into manageable chunks, dump these chunks into buckets, and lug the buckets over to pickup trucks containing reinforced containers to hold the rocks.

The pickups carry the rocks down the mountain for loading onto 18-wheelers that transport tons of the material to the USGS in Denver.

The USGS makes the simulant by crushing and grinding the rocks and blending in small amounts of natural minerals according to a well-researched "recipe" to approximate the make up of genuine moondust and moon dirt. (ANI)