Lunarcrete: Building Material for Lunar Settlements

Lunarcrete refers to ‘concrete made on the moon’. It is expected to play a crucial role as the US and China compete to establish long-term lunar settlements.

Properties and Composition

• Lunarcrete utilizes lunar regolith as its primary aggregate instead of traditional sand and gravel.
• The fine and powdery texture of the lunar regolith is due to its composition, which is different from Earth's materials.

Challenges and Solutions

• Binder Challenge: Unlike Earth, where Portland cement uses significant amounts of water, water is scarce on the moon.
• Potential Solutions:
  • Shipping binder materials from Earth and using minimal water for mixing with regolith.
  • Sulphur Lunarcrete: Melting sulphur, mixing it with regolith, and cooling it into a solid. However, it can soften at high temperatures.
  • Heating regolith with microwaves or concentrated sunlight to melt and fuse grains, creating bricks.

Research and Experiments

• Researchers at Louisiana State University, simulated a dome-shaped lunar habitat using lunarcrete walls.
• The habitat was subjected to temperatures ranging from 120°C to –130°C, revealing that the walls could maintain an internal temperature of 22°C.
• Walls composed of two layers of lunarcrete with an intervening empty space proved to be excellent insulators.