A team of Ohio State University (OSU) scientists has revealed a cutting-edge process using an electrically powered high-energy laser that can turn ordinary moon dust into several futuristic materials that can be fabricated into useful tools and materials.
They also added different base materials, such as stainless steel and aluminum-silica ceramics, to the 3D-printed tools and structures made from laser-converted moon dust to determine which materials offered the greatest benefits in terms of strength, simplicity, and durability.
The OSU researchers said their approach could be used by future lunar colonists to create tools, habitats, and other necessary items and structures with only a small amount of material added to the base lunar regolith.
High-Powered Laser and Moon Dust Fused into Different Objects
As procuring actual lunar regolith was impractical, the OSU team started with a simulated moon dust made to match the authentic regolith’s material and chemical composition. According to a statement announcing the process, the team loaded the simulant into a 3D printer and printed rigid, stackable sheets that could be formed into different tools and objects.
To assess the viability of the printed sheets for various manufacturing and construction applications, the research team used a high-energy laser to melt regolith onto a base material, such as stainless steel. This process fused the simulated moon dust to the base material, resulting in a hybrid compost material with unique properties.
For example, tests using a simulant called LHS-1, which mimics the soil found in the lunar highlands, showed that the material did not adhere to stainless steel. However, the same simulated, dark-covered basalt rock moon dust bonded well with alumina-silicate ceramic. The team said they suspect the silicate and lunar regolith bonded well because both compounds form crystals that “enhance thermal stability and mechanical strength.”
“By combining different feedstocks, like metal and ceramics, in the printing process, we found that the final material is really sensitive to the environment,” explained Sizhe Xu, lead author of the study detailing the process and a graduate research associate in industrial systems engineering at The Ohio State University.
Test Reveal Unique Compositions Under Varying Atmospheric Conditions
Because future moon colonists will operate in hazardous conditions, the team tested their moon dust laser fabrication process under various environmental conditions. According to the team’s statement, these tests revealed that the overall quality of a material produced by their approach “depends greatly on the surface onto which the soil is printed.”
“Different environments lead to different properties, which directly affect the mechanical strength and the thermal shock resistance of certain components.”
Along with the material’s manufacture and composition, experiments revealed that environmental factors such as oxygen availability and fabrication factors such as laser power can affect the stability of the final structure made from the hybrid material.
“There are conditions that happen in space that are really hard to emulate in a simulant,” explained Sarah Wolff, senior author of the study and an assistant professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Ohio State. “It may work in the lab, but in a resource-scarce environment, you have to try everything to maximize the flexibility of a machine for different scenarios.”
There Are so Many Applications That We’re Working Toward
When discussing potential applications of their high-energy laser-based moon dust fabrication process, the OSU team noted that future lunar colonists will need to be able to build tools and structures using local resources rather than transporting heavy equipment and materials from Earth. They also noted that such tools and structures must be specially engineered to “survive extreme vacuum, dust and thermal environmental conditions.”
“The promise of these technologies would not only save essential mission time but also allow for extended independence as crews travel into deep space,” they explained.
Moving forward, the team is exploring the challenges moon colonists may face when using local resources. For example, their laser uses electric power, which can be generated using solar collectors or other hybrid power architectures.
“There are so many applications that we’re working toward that with new information, the possibilities are endless,” Xu said.
Although the process is designed for future moon colonists, the researchers suggest that their approach could lead to improved, more energy-efficient processes and potentially address material shortages on Earth.
“If we can successfully manufacture things in space using very few resources, that means we can also achieve better sustainability on Earth,” Wolff explained. “To that end, improving the machine’s flexibility for different scenarios is a goal we’re working really hard toward.”
The study “Laser directed energy deposition additive manufacturing of lunar highland regolith simulant” was published in Acta Astronautica.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.