Moon Dust and Lasers: The Technology That Could Build the Next Lunar Base

On the Moon, nothing is easy to replace. Every tool, spare part and structural component must be launched from Earth, with a very high price tag. (There’s no Amazon Prime on the Moon.) The solution, researchers from The Ohio State University believe, may be hiding in the dust beneath astronauts’ boots.

This dust has a name: lunar regolith, a loose layer of fragmented rock built up over billions of years of meteorite impacts. It is abundant and non-toxic, making it an obvious candidate for in-situ manufacturing. When every kilogram launched from Earth costs a fortune, building with locally available material stops being an interesting idea and starts being a necessity.

Why Laser Directed Energy Deposition?

The next question is how to process it. Several additive manufacturing techniques have already been tested with lunar regolith simulants, but most come with a catch. Laser Powder Bed Fusion requires large powder beds and Binder Jetting needs chemical binders. But when your factory has to fit inside a spacecraft, that quickly becomes impractical.