A team of scientists from the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) and the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany have successfully used 3D printing to create structures using lunar regolith in zero gravity conditions for the first time.
Moonrise project. Credit: LZH
Moonrise tech in action on the moon. Left the lunar module ALINA, right the rover with the Moonrise technology – with the laser switched on, melting moon dust. Credit: LZH.
The ambitious 'Moonrise' project - funded by the Volkswagen Foundation - has spent two years creating a laser platform that would be able to melt lunar regolith, or moondust, into structural forms.
The team mounted a 3 kg customised laser to the MIRA3D, a mobile robot arm prototype built to use in the testing of technologies with the potential for use on future lunar rover vehicles.
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The laser was then used to melt a synthetic material which replicated the qualities of lunar regolith into joint lanes, a structural form used for the creation of more complex shapes. With further research, it could form the basis of a 'flight-ready' model that could be used by future astronauts to construct long-term structures on the lunar surface economically and with relative speed.
“We were able to precisely control the laser’s head on the arm of the rover, thus melting larger structures with complete success,” said Professor Enrico Stoll of TU Braunschweig.
“Together with experiments conducted in LUH’s ‘Einstein Elevator,’ we have a solid basis for 3D printing with the laser on the Moon.”
The Einstein Elevator is a sophisticated drop-tower in which microgravity conditions can be recreated. Moonrise was the first in the Elevator, says LZH.
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As the two-year project draws towards its completion, the team has been looking to conduct even more advanced experiments with the laser, such as the one in the Einstein Elevator.
“In the elevator, we succeeded in melting regolith into spheres – both under complete weightlessness and lunar gravity,” said LZH's Professor Ludger Overmeyer. “That is unique in the world!”
On the back of the successful trials, the team is now beginning negotiations with space agencies, as they look to develop the technology further and hone it towards flight-readiness.
If able to finish their work, the team claim that their device could be used to construct structurally solid and long-lasting lunar settlements in the future.
With a host of space agencies looking to establish a permanent presence on the Moon, including the US, China, Russia and the EU, more and more focus is being put on 3D printing as a cost-effective solution to construction on the lunar surface.
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In the US, Texas-based construction firm ICON has been awarded a contract by NASA for the development of a prototype of a full-scale off-world 3D printer - a task to which the company has dedicated a whole new division.
China's National Space Administration has also unveiled plans to 3D print a lunar base, with the project's potential most likely hinging on the success of its Chang'e 5 mission.
Russia's Roscosmos space agency has also confirmed similar plans using the 3D printing of regolith. Details remain unclear but cosmonauts are scheduled for a 2027 Moon landing - three years after NASA.
"In the last two years, we have developed a laser head that is only about the size of a large juice box and yet can withstand the adverse conditions in space," commented Niklas Gerdes from LZH.
"During the first tests in the laboratory, we determined the necessary irradiation duration and laser power. Then we went into the vacuum chamber and successfully melted regolith there."
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