What is regolith?

Regolith is like the soft layer on top of Earth that you can dig into with your hands or a spoon.

Imagine you're playing in a sandbox. The sand you dig up is loose and easy to move around, that's kind of what regolith is, but not just on a sandbox. It’s the layer of dirt, rocks, and other stuff that covers the ground on planets like Earth, the Moon, or Mars.

Regolith isn’t just one type of material; it can be made up of tiny bits of rock, soil, and even dust from space. On the Moon, regolith is like a powdery layer you could sprinkle on your cake, it’s been kicked up by billions of little impacts from meteors over time.

On Earth, regolith might feel more like the dirt in your garden that you dig into when planting seeds. It can be soft and wet or hard and dry, depending on where you are. And just like how you can dig a hole in the sandbox with your hands, space explorers can dig through regolith to find out what's hidden underneath, like treasure!