3D Printed Lunar Regolith Bricks Can Withstand the Extreme Environments in Space

Since the first space flight in the 1960s, humankind has dreamed of not just visiting the stars but of residing among them. Though living on the Moon or Mars might seem like science-fiction, it is actually something that is being actively worked towards by a number of organizations and 3D printing may be one of the keys to its success. And now it may be one step closer to feasibility. Researchers at the University of Central Florida have successfully created 3D printed bricks that could be used to construct bases on the Artemis Base Camp made out of lunar regolith and saltwater.

This is certainly not the first time that efforts have been made to use 3D printing for housing in space. In fact, there are a number of projects that are currently ongoing testing. This includes Redwire’s testing on the international space station to determine whether lunar regolith, or the soil and rock deposits on the surface of the Moon could be used to create habitations, NASA’s current work with AI Space Factory on a 3D printed lunar habitat and Washington State University’s research into 3D printing on Mars. However, up to this point it has been relatively hypothetical. This is one of the first projects to show that regolith bricks are able to withstand the extreme environments that are found in outer space.

Lunar regolith consists of loose rocks, dust and materials found on the surface of the Moon (photo credits: NASA)

3D Printed Lunar Regolith Bricks Able to Withstand Extremes

The study Effect of sintering temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of molded Martian and Lunar regolith was published in a recent issue of Ceramics International and was undergone by researchers from a team led by Associate Professor Ranajay Ghosh from UCF’s Department of Mechniacal and Aersopace Engineering. The lead author is Peter Warren, a research assistant, but co-authors include Nandhini Raju, Hossein Ebrahimi, Milos Krsmanovic and aerospace engineering professor Seetha Raghavan and Jayanta Kapa. They sought to discover whether a fixed Artemis base camp on the Moon could be constructed from these 3D printed lunar regolith bricks.