The Lunar construction race began

China is ready to take a bold step towards building lunar bases in the coming months, samples of the brick will be sent to the Tiangong space station for extreme testing, these bricks made with different compositions of lunar soil simulator, will be launched in the next Tianzhou 8 cargo mission and the objective is clear to determine which materials best resist the harsh conditions of space and eventually use it in the construction of lunar bases. These bricks will face the vacuum of space for 3 years. They will be bombarded by ultraviolet light, exposed to cosmic rays and subjected to drastic variations in temperature. These extreme conditions will test their durability and resistance, helping to identify which compositions and manufacturing methods are most suitable. for the construction of structures on the surface of the moon.

One of the proposed methods to create these bricks is to heat the lunar soil simulator to more than 1000 degrees Celsius, using electromagnetic induction and a tuning furnace, this process melts the material and creates a solid brick 18 cm long in just 10 minutes, this is an essential step for the viability of lunar construction since launching materials from the earth to the moon is extremely expensive, using lunar resources directly could significantly reduce costs and facilitate future missions. The country plans to build a lunar base with international partners in the 2030s, this base called the international lunar research station will play a fundamental role in space exploration, in preparation China plans to test bricks manufactured by 3D printing directly on the moon during the Changa 9 mission that is scheduled to be launched in 2028 at the lunar South Pole.

China is not alone in this race, both NASA and the European space agency are also exploring ways to make bricks from lunar regolith. NASA, for example, has already approved cement mixing technologies on board the international space station with the aim To create materials for space habitats, however, the Chinese experiment promises to be the first to directly test the resilience of lunar soil bricks in space, a crucial foundation for the future of construction outside of Earth. With these tests, China is one step closer to turning science fiction into reality, paving the way for the colonization of the moon and possibly other planets.