Moon-opoly: Utilizing in situ Resources (ISRU) for the Construction of Lunar Concrete

Overview

The colonization of space will be important to the future of mankind. Our nearest celestial body is the moon, and creating a suitable building material using lunar resources will be critical to maintaining a colony there. My proposed solution is to create a type of Lunar-Crete; a mix of lunar regolith (moon-dust) and elemental sulfur (available from lunar rocks). When these two materials are blended and heated above 140 degrees C - they will bind together and form a concrete-like material, suitable for habitable structures or other construction purposes. To test my Lunar-Crete concept, I purchased a lunar regolith “simulant” and elemental sulfur, and mixed them in two ratios. Additionally, I added 5% fiberglass to one of the mixtures. I added these mixtures to a mold and heated them, creating multiple samples. Finally, I tested each Lunar-Crete sample for compressive strength, and compared those results to conventional concrete - which I made separately using an identical mold. Both Lunar-Crete mixtures successfully fused, and made a solid casted cylinder of homogenous material. These cylinders were then compression tested in an industrial materials lab. Lunar-Crete was found to be approximately half as strong as conventional concrete. However the Lunar-Crete version that included fiberglass was found to be 10% stronger than traditional concrete. In conclusion, by extracting sulfur from lunar rocks, recombining the sulfur with lunar regolith, and heating the mixture above 140 degrees C , a useful building material was successfully created. When corrected for the effects of reduced lunar gravity, Lunar-Crete could be considered comparably as strong as conventional concrete.

Competition history

• ISEF 2022 Materials Science · Entry MATS032 · Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Resources

• ISEF abstract page ↗

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