Louisiana State University is collaborating with NASA on a project investigating the potential for natural materials on the Moon to be used as 3D printed waterless concrete. The research is part of a wider mission to develop feasible robotic construction technologies that can support the building of long-term settlements on the Lunar surface, including habitats, landing pads, and radiation shields.

The research is a partnership between LSU Construction Management Assistant Professor Ali Kazemian alongside scientists Michael Fiske and Jennifer Edmunson from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Together, the team will investigate how raw materials already available on the Moon and Mars, namely sulfur and regolith, can be used to develop 3D printed waterless concrete.

Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the team will study the performance and limits of the sulfur-regolith concrete material in high temperatures and environmental conditions such as near-vacuums or micrometeorite impact scenarios. With a greater understanding of the material’s behavior, the team will design and develop a 3D printing system using the material and seek to validate their research findings on a large-scale project such as a Lunar habitat prototype.

“Molten sulfur is the binder and regolith, i.e., Lunar soil, acts as the filler material,” Kazemian explains. “Robotic construction on the Moon using Lunar resources and large-scale 3D printing technology is the goal.”

“Even shipping raw materials from Earth is cost prohibitive, so the only practical approach is to use the resources which are already available on the Moon and Mars for construction,” Kazemian adds. “That is why 3D printing using sulfur-regolith concrete (SRC) is attractive. On the other hand, production of Portland cement concrete, the most commonly used construction material on Earth, will be complicated on the Moon and will require large amounts of water that could otherwise be used for life support or other exploration activities.”

News of the collaboration comes one week after construction technology company ICON was selected by DARPA to work on a framework for Lunar architecture. The company has also previously received NASA funding to create 3D printing methods using materials from the Moon and Mars.