By Dean Murray via SWNS
Scientists are set to build bases on the Moon – from Lego bricks.
European Space Agency (ESA) researchers have been inspired by the Danish toys to craft construction materials from moon dust.
They have used dust from a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite to 3D-print ‘space bricks’ to test the idea, complete with the Lego-like connecting studs on top.
ESA says: “The idea seems simple. Rather than take building materials all the way to the Moon, we could use what is already there to construct a Moon base.
“The surface of the Moon is covered with a layer of rock and mineral fragments known as lunar regolith. This material could be used to make space bricks.
“The only problem was that there’s not much lunar regolith available on Earth to experiment with.”
ESA scientists came up with a solution: they made their own version of lunar regolith by grinding up the ancient meteorite.
The dust from the space rock formed the basis of a mixture that was then used to 3-D print some LEGO-style space bricks.
ESA says their space bricks click together in the same way as regular Lego bricks but are a bit rougher – and only come in one color – a “stylish space grey”.
The space bricks gave ESA’s space engineers the flexibility to build and test a variety of structures using this new material.
ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley said, “Nobody has built a structure on the Moon, so it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks. It was both fun and useful in scientifically understanding the boundaries of these techniques.”
Lego has also put plastic versions of the bricks in some stores to inspire the next generation of space engineers.
