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'The advantage of additive manufacturing is that you can control the composition as well as the geometry,' says Bose. If you want a stronger building material, for instance, you could perhaps use some moon rock with earth-based additives. Using additive manufacturing, the material could also be tailored, the researchers say. 'It doesn't look fantastic, but you can make something out of it,' says Bandyopadhyay. The researchers are the first to demonstrate the ability to fabricate parts using the moon-like material. The WSU researchers were concerned about how the moon rock material, which is made of silicon, aluminum, calcium, iron and magnesium oxides, would melt, but they found it behaved similarly to silica. To test the idea, NASA researchers provided Bandyopadhyay and Bose with 10 pounds of raw lunar regolith simulant, an imitation moon rock that is used for research purposes. In this case, the material is heated using a laser to high temperatures and prints out like melting candle wax to a desired shape. Three-dimensional fabrication technology, also known as additive manufacturing, allows researchers to produce complex three dimensional objects directly from computer-aided design (CAD) models, printing the material layer by layer. That's where the 3-D fabrication technology might come in. Establishment of a lunar or Martian outpost would require using the materials that are on hand for construction or repairs. Because of the tremendous expense of space travel, researchers strive to limit what space ships have to carry.

In 2010, researchers from NASA initiated discussion with Bandyopadhyay, asking if their research team might be able to print 3-D objects from moon rock.

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'It sounds like science fiction, but now it's really possible,' says Amit Bandyopadhyay, professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University.īandyopadhyay and a group of colleagues recently published a paper in Rapid Prototyping Journal demonstrating how to print parts using materials from the moon.īandyopadhyay and Susmita Bose, professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, are well known researchers in the area of three-dimensional printing, creating bone-like materials for orthopedic implants.

Lunar rock