Regolith

Regolith is a common solid material encountered in space-related content and meteor activity, where it falls as hot debris during Meteor Showers and can also be harvested from renewable space points of interest in the Gilded Asteroid Fields. It is a useful early-game resource because many systems can consume it directly, and it can also be converted into other materials or heat-traded into useful power.

One notable property of Regolith is that it melts at 1411.85 °C. When heated to that point, it turns into Magma. Because Magma has a much higher heat capacity than Regolith at the same temperature, flash-melting Regolith creates a very large amount of heat gain. This makes Regolith a strong heat-transfer medium in industrial setups: it can be preheated and used to generate steam, support Steam Turbines, or even help cook Petroleum. Cooling the resulting Magma produces Igneous Rock, which can then be fed to Hatches for additional power generation.

Regolith also has several practical material uses:

• Water Sieve uses Regolith as filter material to turn Polluted Water into Water.
  • 5 kg/s Polluted Water + 1 kg/s Regolith = 5 kg/s Water + 200 g/s Polluted Dirt
• Deodorizer uses Regolith as filter material to turn Polluted Oxygen into Oxygen.
  • 100 g/s Polluted Oxygen + 133.33 g/s Regolith = 90 g/s Oxygen + 143.33 g/s Clay
• Shove Voles eat Regolith and excrete a Regolith tile with half the mass.

Because Meteor Showers bring in Regolith at high temperature, it is often useful to plan for both collection and heat management. Buildings such as Telescope can be overheated by falling Regolith, so placing them above an automated horizontal Mechanized Airlock lets the debris fall through once the shower ends. For lower layers, a properly placed Robo-Miner can clear out the accumulation.

Heated Regolith can also be deliberately collected and used as a heat source. While it is not the most efficient way to boil water into steam, it is enough to support the first Steam Rockets, and a steam chamber placed directly beneath the rocket can recover some of the exhaust heat. In short, Regolith is both a nuisance and an opportunity: it can clog and overheat installations if ignored, but with the right setup it becomes feedstock, filtration material, animal food, and a surprisingly convenient source of industrial heat.