A group of students at Virginia Tech have formulate the first brick that could be build entirely on the Moon , using lunar rock and powderized Al . It ’s “ fired ” by fusing the stuff with superhot wire .
For their successful innovation , the student won the In - Situ Lunar Resource Utilization materials and building family honor from the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems ( PISCES ) .
According to X - Journal :
During initial experiments , the simulated regolith and aluminum powder were mixed and placed inside a shallow aluminum enhancer melting pot . A telegram was tuck into the miscellanea , which was then heated to 2,700 academic degree Fahrenheit trigger a reaction call ego - propagating in high spirits - temperature synthesis ( SHS ) , Logan said . The reaction caused the cloth to form a unanimous brick . A ceramic melting pot was used in ulterior experiment to mold complex curving surface .
Once the student team had created a brick , they found that it was almost as strong as concrete under various force per unit area tests . Faierson say one - straight column inch of the brick could withstand the gradual program of 2,450 pound , nearly the weight unit of a Ford Focus . This strength would enable it to withstand an environment where gravity is a fraction of the pulling on Earth . The more than yearlong on-going enquiry has included studying the bricks chemical reaction to solar actinotherapy and their effectuality as a construction material for lunar applications .
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