China is getting ready to 3D-print bricks on the moon using lunar soil, in what could be a huge step toward building a base on the lunar surface.
The Chang’e 8 spacecraft is currently scheduled to launch around 2028. The mission is planned as a stepping stone to China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and could, potentially, mark a big breakthrough for moon exploration and habitation.
As sending anything to the moon is extremely expensive, using materials already present on the lunar surface, known as in-situ resource utilization, has the potential to hugely cut costs and expand possibilities. That’s where Chang’e 8 will look to change the game for lunar exploration with 3D printing technology.
“Now we have developed the world’s first device that produces bricks made of lunar soil. This system harnesses sunlight, collects solar energy, and transmits it to the moon using fiber optics,” Wu Weiren, chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, told China Central Television (CCTV).
“By concentrating the sunlight, we can achieve temperatures between 1400 to 1500 degrees Celsius [2,552 to 2732 degrees Fahrenheit], which is sufficient to melt lunar soil. Our device then utilizes 3D printing technology to shape the molten material into bricks of various specifications. This approach allows us to utilize resources found on the moon, free from transporting water and other materials from the Earth,” Wu said.
A successful test would go a long way toward allowing China to plan and carry out more ambitious construction endeavors on the moon.
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This is also not the first step that China has made in this area. China has already sent a sample of bricks made from different compositions of lunar soil simulant, meant to mimic real moon regolith, to its Tiangong space station. These will remain outside Tiangong for three years to test their durability in the harsh thermal, radiation and vacuum conditions of outer space and help assess their suitability for building lunar habitats.
Before Chang’e 8, China will launch Chang’e 7 in 2026 to explore the environment and resources at the south pole of the moon with a particular focus on the search for water. The detection of water ice could mean there is a source of drinking water, oxygen and rocket fuel production capabilities already waiting on the moon. The mission will employ a hopping robot to explore permanently shadowed craters and look for evidence of water ice.
“That’s why we say we will be looking for water. Is there water in the craters? If so, that would be a huge discovery and a monumental achievement,” Wu said.
The plans follow on from a series of successful orbiter, lander and rover and sample return missions carried out by China across the past two decades, most recently with the Chang’e 6 far side sample return last year.
The country is also aiming to land its astronauts on the moon for the first time before 2030.