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MOONRISE: Rovers, Lasers, and Making Moonbricks
The MOONRISE project is a technology demonstration project that will send a rover to our nearest neighbor equipped with a lightweight laser system to melt lunar regolith and convert it into building materials. [universetoday.com]
So far, all the proposals made for a lunar base have centered on in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and 3D printing – where robots will manufacture the base out of lunar regolith. For this purpose, the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) and the Institute of Space Systems (IRAS) at the Technical University of Braunschweig came together to develop a laser system capable of turning moon dust into building materials.
The ability to generate building materials using local resources is an absolute must for the future of space exploration. At present, the cost of launching payloads to the Moon is still prohibitively expensive – estimated at roughly $780,000 a kilogram ($355,000 a pound). For this reason, the most cost-effective plans involve manufacturing everything directly on the lunar surface.
The MOONRISE project will validate the 3kg laser system is capable of melting regolith and converting it into a molten ceramic material that could then be 3d printed into desired shapes.
This, or a similar 3d printing method, will be used in the construction of the ESA's planned International Moon Village [universetoday.com]
The results of the previous tests are promising, which validated the system’s laser hardware and optics. The science team has also been using materials that are increasingly similar to lunar regolith to see if the laser is capable of melting them. Currently, the team is working on integrating the laser to fit into the load compartment of the lunar rover so that it is able to fire out of the underside.
The fourth generation four wheeled rover that will be used for the mission is the Audi Lunar Quattro [ptscientists.com] developed by Berlin based PTScientists [ptscientists.com] in conjunction with Audi [audi.com]. The rover has stereoscopic vision and is remote controlled from Earth using a joystick.
This regolith reshaping research may come to fruition as early as 2021 when PTScientists plans to launch the rover with it's lunar liquefying laser on its way.
