European Space Agency Explores Building Moon Habitats with Lego-Like Bricks from Meteorite Dust

The ESA is exploring the concept of constructing moon habitats using Lego-like bricks made from meteorite dust. Utilizing a 3D printer, ESA scientists have successfully designed and created these innovative bricks.

(Photo : Space/ESA LEGO)

ESA's Lego-like Brick

Scientists working for the ESA have recently started experimenting with a concept that promises to be highly intriguing. To get things started, they have attempted to form space dust into bricks similar to legos and then construct using those bricks.

Although the final bricks are noticeably rougher than legos, they are still easily recognizable. They can be stacked in the same manner Legos allow and built out of them in many different ways. Apart from being entertaining to play with, they could let researchers assess several building techniques to find which ones work best with particular materials.

However, the space bricks manufactured by ESA are not made from moondust. When considering all of the lunar samples that have been brought back to Earth by several missions, it is clear that the lunar regolith is just not available and would not be of sufficient value for use in bricks. The European Space Agency scientists instead used a simulant, which was regolith taken from a meteorite. The researchers used 4.5 billion year-old material that came from a meteorite discovered in Northwest Africa circa 2000. The meteorite dust was carved by them using a 3D printer into conventional Lego brick shapes 2x4 in size. 

Accordingly, between June 20 and September 20, the moon bricks that were created by the ESA will also be on exhibit to the general public at several types of Lego stores.

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Meteorites' Origin

A meteorite is an object created when a meteoroid falls through the atmosphere and grounds on Earth. It often falls between the size of a pebble and that of a hand. In addition, there is reportedly a great range of space rocks called meteoroids, from tiny asteroids to dust grains. Nevertheless, the term is only applicable during the time that these rocks are still in space.

The majority of meteoroids are fragments of larger entities that have been shattered or blasted off by a significant amount of force. Some originate from comets, some from asteroids, and there are even some that originate from the Moon and other planets. While some meteoroids are composed of rocks, others are made of metals or a combination of rocks and metals respectively.

As mentioned, the Earth's atmosphere will break up most space rocks smaller than a football field. When the object's strength is exceeded by the pressure, it disintegrates, resulting in a brilliant flare, which happens while the object travels at tens of thousands of miles per hour. In most cases, considerably less than five percent of the initial object can make it to the ground.

On the other hand, meteorites can reportedly be extremely big. The largest meteorite ever discovered weighs approximately sixty tons, which is approximately twice as much as the Ahnighito meteorite that is lying in the middle of this chamber. There have also been discoveries of meteorites that are relatively small, with sizes comparable to those of beach pebbles or even grains of sand.

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