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  • Author Author: Joshua_Evans
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3D printers could use lunar rocks - but how useful will it prove to be?

Joshua_Evans

A new study, conducted by a team of researchers in the US, has suggested that future Moon colonists will be able to use lunar rocks to create new tools. The assertion comes after the team at Washington State University used a 3D printer to make small objects out of melted simulated lunar rocks.


http://aperture.adfero.co.uk/Image/Original/3719

 

Throwing this idea forward, the technique could help to reduce the weight and expense of carrying materials into space, according to the researchers, who said that a digital file should suffice in the future.


Research into the game-changing technique started in 2010, when Nasa asked them to investigate whether it is possible to use lunar rocks for 3D printing. To this end, the researchers were handed simulated lunar rocks, comprising silicon, aluminium and calcium, as well as iron and magnesium oxides.


The academics were successful in creating simple 3D shapes by sending a digital file or scan to a printer. Thereafter, the printer was able to construct the objects, layer by layer, out of melted lunar regolith.


"It sounds like science fiction, but now it's really possible," reflected Professor Amit Bandyopadhyay, the lead author of the study, which looks set to make a major impression on the space industry.


Despite this, Professor Colin Pillinger, the scientist behind the ill-fated Beagle-2 mission to Mars, has poured scorn on the concept, observing that the printer would need to be really precise to be able to fabricate some of the more sophisticated parts of an aircraft.


Speaking to the BBC, he explained: "It would be nice if you could do that but I'm not sure it would work - it depends whether it is a simple mechanical component or something more complex.


"If you break your car on a motorway and have to replace your wheel, and you just print one it's a mechanical component, but if it's something more sophisticated like an electrical component to run your car, it's a different story. Of course, if you don't have to take a wheel to the Moon it's great, but if it's not a mechanical part that breaks but something more sophisticated then I'm not sure it would work."

  • in reply to DAB

    "Makes you dream a little doesn't it."

     

    Sure does! And yes, just melting moon rock and "printing" with it seems a bit backward (to say the least!) to me too.. But refining it, and using selected components thereof, well, that is a bit more likely to provide usable structures.

     

    One funny thing about all this, to me, is that we make all these plans for "terraforming" other worlds, while simultaniously ignoring that we are letting our planet drift towards becoming uninhabitable!

     

    I agree with researching for our future - If we (humans) survive another 1/2 century we will need to be seriously looking at some SF options if we dont want (or cant get) drastic population reduction..

     

    But Earth is still a vastly better equipped home for human life than anything "out there" that we have seen - And even if our grand plans to nuke the heart of Mars and create an atmosphere (for example) were set into motion, it would take many decades (centuries?) before we would be in a position to colonise and be self sufficient on any new home.

     

    Ensuring that Earth remains our primary interest, and applying geo-engineering and even "terraforming" to prevent an unstoppable deterioration of our ecosphere should (Must) be out primary objective - If we fail to achieve this quickly, there is no hope for our species, not here, and not anywhere.

     

    Fred.

  • If you look at the composition of the lunar samples, you can see a lot of useful components.

     

    I agree that the current 3D printers would only have a limited use of the material, but if you use the abundant sunlight to melt the material and separate its components, you could create a lot of useful parts that could be assembled into a lot of tools and equipment.

     

    The Aluminum content alone would prove valuable for lunar structures and any moon built spacecraft.  The process would release a lot of oxygen and hydrogen compounds that could be used to create water.

     

    So I hope they continue to research and consider uses for the lunar soil.  By the time we go back, we should have enough ideas to build and maintain a permanent lunar colony using the material already there.  Did I forget to mention that the soil has shown it can support growing earth crops?

     

    Makes you dream a little doesn't it.

     

    DAB