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Credit: CCTV
China is preparing for 3D printing stones on the moon with a moon floor, in a large step, to build a base on the moon surface.
The Chang’e 8 Spacecraft is currently being planned around 2028. The mission is a springboard for the Chinese International Moon Research Station (Ilrs) and possibly mark a large breakthrough for moon research and stay.
As something on sending the moon Is extremely expensive and used materials that are already available on the moon surface and are referred to as in-situ resource utilization, the potential to significantly reduce the costs. Here Chang’e 8 will change the game for moon research with 3D printing technology.
Screenshot from an animation that represents a future Chinese robot mission at the south pole of the moon. | Credit: CCTV
“Now we have developed the world’s first device that produces Bricks made of moon floor. This system uses the sunlight, collects solar energy and transmits it to the moon with fiber optics.
“By concentrating the sunlight, we can achieve temperatures between 1400 and 1500 degrees Celsius [2,552 to 2732 degrees Fahrenheit]What is sufficient to melt the moon floor. Our device then uses the 3D printing technology to form the melted material in bricks from different specifications. This approach enables us to use resources, Earth“, Said Wu.
A successful test would make a major contribution to planning China and carrying out more ambitious construction work on the moon.
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This is also not the first step that China has taken in this area. China has already sent one Sample of bricks Simulant from various compositions of moon soil, which should imitate the real moon regoliths Tiangong space station. These remain outside of Tiangong to test their durability in the hard thermal, radiant and vacuum conditions of space and to evaluate their suitability for the construction of lunar habitats.
China will start before Chang’e 8 Chang’e 7 in 2026 to explore the environment and the resources at the south pole of the moon with a special focus in search of water. The detection of water ice could mean that there is a source of drinking waterOxygen and rocket fuel production skills that are already waiting for the moon. The mission will be busy Robot bounce To explore permanently shaded crater and to look for evidence of water ice.
“That’s why we say we will look for water. Is there water in the craters? If so, that would be a big discovery and a monumental performance,” said Wu.
The plans will follow from a number of successful orbiter, landing and samples and samples, recovering missions that China have carried out in the past two decades, most recently with the Chang’e 6 Return sample return last year.
The country also aims at it Land its astronauts on the moon For the first time before 2030.
