China Makes Bricks from Lunar Soil, Ready to Build Ready to Build Base in 2030

MOON – China will send brick samples to its space station in the coming months to test their durability under extreme conditions and their potential use in building a lunar base.

Brick samples made from various compositions of lunar soil simulants will be launched to the Tiangong space station on the upcoming Tianzhou 8 cargo mission, according to a report by Chinese state media CCTV.

The bricks will undergo a three-year exposure test in space, where they will be bombarded by ultraviolet and cosmic rays and subjected to temperature differences.

This will test the strength and durability of the bricks in extreme environments and how the material behaves in a vacuum.

This experiment is designed to provide insight into which composition and which method of brick production from lunar soil is most suitable for building structures on the moon.

One method for making the bricks, according to CCTV, involves heating the simulant to more than 1,830 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius) using electromagnetic induction in a sintering furnace. This process melts the material into a solid structure, creating a 7-inch (18-centimeter) brick in just 10 minutes.

Launching materials to the moon is very expensive, so using lunar resources locally can significantly reduce costs and increase the possibilities for lunar exploration. This is known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).

China plans to build a lunar base with its partners in the 2030s known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

In preparation, the country plans to test 3D printing of bricks on the moon with its Chang’e 8 lunar lander and south pole rover. The mission is expected to launch around 2028.

Both NASA and the European Space Agency have been working to create bricks from lunar regolith simulants.

NASA has previously tested cement-mixing technology on the International Space Station, with a focus on making materials for potential space habitats. But China’s experiment is expected to be the first to directly test the durability of lunar soil bricks in space.

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