Researchers at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) developed a method to produce construction materials in space from moondust using microwave technology.

Since the recent discovery of ice on the moon, Earth’s satellite has sparked renewed interest for space exploration. NASA has announced a mission for long-term human presence on the moon, the Artemis mission. This mission calls for infrastructure, but transporting construction materials to the moon is costly, an estimated 1.2 million USD per kilogram.

To solve this problem, the KICT team developed technology to create construction materials using locally available materials, namely lunar regolith or moondust. Composed of fine particles, the material can be sintered through heat. Since microwaves are particularly advantageous in terms of energy efficiency, the researchers used this technology to produce blocks from lunar regolith simulant by heating and compacting it.

When microwaves heat the moondust, localised hot and cold spots can form. These spots lead to localized thermal runaway, hindering uniform heating and sintering. To address this, a stepwise heating programme with specific temperature and dwell time was developed. Another challenge are volatile substances in the regolith, like water. Heating these can cause internal cracking. This problem was mitigated by heating the simulant under vacuum conditions at 250 degrees Celsius.

Photo: KICT (via EurekAlert!)