Scientists create bricks that could built the future Moon bases
Engineers used concentrated sunlight and a 3D printer table to create bricks from simulated moon dust. Their achievement could prove that future Moon colonists might rely on the same approach to build settlements on the lunar surface.
At the DLR German Aerospace Center facility in Cologne, scientists took simulated lunar material and cooked it in a solar furnace, as materials engineer Advenit Makaya, who is overseeing the project for ESA, explained. According to a press release, the team used commercially available simulated lunar soil based on terrestrial volcanic material and processed to mimic the composition and grain sizes of genuine moon dust. Then, using a 3D printer table and an array of xenon lamps that simulate sunlight, the scientists ‘baked’ successive 0.1 mm layers of moon dust at 1000°C.
The resulting bricks have the equivalent strength of gypsum, and are set to undergo detailed mechanical testing.
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“We can complete a 20 x 10 x 3 cm brick for building in around five hours,” Advenit Makaya said.
The engineer adds that even if some bricks show some warping at the edges because of different cooling times, the project is a proof of concept, showing that sych a lunar construction method is feasible.
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