June 22, 2024
Categories: Moon, Science

Scientists at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Construction Technology (KICT) have developed a method of creating bricks from lunar regolith using microwave sintering. The study was published in the journal Construction and Building Materials.

Microwave sintering allows lunar regolith to harden below its melting point, making it a promising method for building a habitable lunar base. The method resembles ceramic firing and involves raising the temperature of raw materials to create solid building materials.

Researchers tested sintering methods to create bricks made from simulated lunar regolith, which has a strength of more than 20 millipascals, comparable to concrete. Since microwave heating depends on the dielectric properties of the material, the corresponding characteristics of Korean lunar simulite (KLS-1) and ilmenite (iron titanate) at different temperatures were studied.

It turned out that the lunar regolith simulant is transparent in the microwave range, which makes it difficult to heat. However, ilmenite, due to its unique crystal structure, interacts effectively with microwaves, allowing high temperatures to be reached quickly.

Thus, using ilmenite as a heating element in the construction of a lunar base using microwave sintering will enable efficient and rapid production of building materials. This mineral is widespread in the lunar soil and can be mined on the Earth’s natural satellite.

More from this category:
October 31, 2018

According to the information from TASS News Agency, the cause of the “Soyuz-FG” rocket accident, that occurred on October 11, was the abnormal operation of…

full story
June 25, 2024

Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicles for autumn launches of Soyuz MS-26 and Progress MS-29 have been delivered to Baikonur. The railway train with rocket blocks was accepted…

full story
August 19, 2016

Prime (Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko, NASA astronaut Robert Shane Kimbrough) and back-up (Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Nickolay Tikhonov, NASA astronaut Mark…

full story
April 21, 2021

In the assembly and testing facility of the Vostochny Сosmodrome, a joint specialist crew of the Vostochny Space Center (a branch of the Center for…

full story
February 13, 2017

Energia Rocket and Space Corporation specialists filled Progress mS-05 cargo vehicle with propellant components and pressurized gas at Baikonur launchsite. According to Roscosmos upon completion…

full story
April 10, 2025

Launched on the morning of April 8 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-27 with a crew of three people safely docked to…

full story
April 17, 2013

At Baikonur launch site the preparations continue for the launch of Progress M-19M cargo vehicle under the International Space Station program. Progress M-19M cargo vehicle…

full story
March 14, 2016

Proton-M booster with ExoMars-2016 station designated to search for life forms on Mars was launched from Baikonur spaceport today on March 14, 2016. The main task…

full story