Researchers Build Objects With 3D Printing Using Simulated Moon Rocks 59
MarkWhittington writes "It has been a truism among space planners that future space settlers will have to build things on other worlds out of as much local materials as possible, saving the cost of transporting things from Earth to the moon or Mars. Two professors at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University have taken a step forward toward developing that technology using laser enabled 3D printing using simulated moon rocks to create simple objects."
Re:I think they meant build shelter, fuel... (Score:5, Interesting)
More than a bit better and a significant more of the Sun's spectrum hitting the surface (The atmosphere is very effective at blocking certain frequencies of light.) A minor math error, since nights and days on earth are half a day, nights and days on the moon are 28 times longer, but if you go to the south pole, You can harvest sunlight from mountain tops continuously and benefit from deep dark craters for cold research at the same time. As well all the water on the moon is heavily concentrated at the poles
Initially you would want to send robot construction equipment to the moon and a small nuclear power plant to power the machines that would build the first ore smelters and solar energy collectors. Eventually you would have hundreds of solar collection sites, powering an extensive subterranean habitat that was virtually immune to micrometeorite fall and cosmic radiation (being at the poles also eliminates the fear of fatal solar radiation exposure during solar storms.) The materials in the lunar regolith are perfect for construction, building huge mirrors, building sintered construction material using 3D printing, building robotic component using 3D printing, building smelters and solar furnaces. The materials available are even great for building electronic and photonic hardware. I'd love to architect living spaces on the moon. The biggest issues would be providing earth gravity work spaces so people can spend time in perhaps 1.2-1.5 G for 8-12 hours a day to off set the impact of spending 12-16 hours a day in 0.16 G. The very coolest thing is that in large open spaces, human beings have enough strength in their arms and chest to flap wings that would allow a person to fly. You could literally build a 200 ft high aviary, for people. Because of the low G, you could build powerful mirrors on the moon orders of magnitude larger than on earth. With the seeing conditions that Hubble has and unimaginably big mirrors, we could watch the near sentient life scratching its extraterrestrial behind.