Lego-inspired 'space bricks' could help scientists design moon habitats. Here's how

[Admin]

How European Space Agency scientists are using Lego-inspired "space bricks" to design lunar habitats.

Lego-inspired 'space bricks' could help scientists design moon habitats. Here's how : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

I am thinking that there is a better approach to making regolith bricks on the Moon.

First, if I were designing a Moon building, I would be thinking about 4 issues:
1. Air tightness
2. Protection from meteorites
3. Protection from radiation
4. Thermal insulation

For leak tightness, I think fabricating something on Earth is going to be more reliable than trying to fabricate it on the Moon, So, I would be looking at the technology being developed already for "inflatable" space station satellites. The air locks, walls, etc. would be made on Earth and transported to the Moon as one piece or as large modules with engineered interconnections

But, an inflatable building is likely to get perforated by meteorites, so it needs some protection. That is where the regolith comes in handy. But, it needs to be in a form that can bridge over the inflatable inner building. I don't think that the Lego design is a good idea for that. For any significant span length, there are Lego blocks that are hanging by their nubs being press-fit into the holes in the blocks above, with several layers needed to make a bridge of plastic blocks here on Earth. The "Lego type" blocks made of regolith are not going to have the same mount of interlocking tension between the nubs and the holes, so there would be some real risk of the "hanging" blocks coming loose and falling on the inflatable inner building. For that reason, I would prefer an A-frame type structure over the inflatable building. The parts of the A frame could still be made with regolith, and they could still benefit by having some interlocking features. But, the interlocking should depend on gravity rather than deformation tension in the material.

Once the A frame is built, regolith could be heaped over it in a loose mound to provide protection from meteorites and radiation, and it has also been shown to be a pretty good insulator.

But, before any of this can actually be used, I think they are going to need to do some design work on a device to fabricate regolith into structural shapes and do some testing of the resultant mechanical properties of those shapes when they are made with the real regolith. Remember, people's lives depend on those structures not failing.