LEGO bricks have proven to be the perfect inspiration for scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA).
When astronauts visit the Moon as part of the Artemis program, they will need to build launch pads and shelters. If materials found on the lunar surface can be used to create these structures, it will be advantageous for astronauts.
As a result, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been 3D printing bricks that are similar to classic LEGO elements using meteorite dust. They are testing whether they could be used as building bocks for small scale structures.
The aim is that when astronauts visit the Moon, they can use regolith, the material found there, to build structures using this basic premise. ESA scientists ground a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite into dust and mixed in a small amount of polylactide and regolith simulant, then 3D printed the first ESA Space Bricks.
The class L3-6 meteorite used for the bricks was first discovered in North-West Africa in 2000. It is a brecciated stone which has many different elements incorporated within it, such as large metal grains, inclusions, chondrules and other stone meteorite elements.
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“Our teams are working towards the future of space travel and take inspiration from not just what’s above us, but also what we can find on Earth,” says ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley. “No-one has ever built a structure on the moon, so we have to work out not only how we build them but what we build them out of as we can’t take any materials with us.
“My team and I team love creative construction and had the idea to explore whether space dust could be formed into a brick similar to a LEGO brick so we could test different building techniques. The result is amazing and whilst the bricks may look a little rougher than usual, importantly the clutch power still works, enabling us to play and test our designs.”
The ESA Space Bricks will be on display at LEGO Store Leicester Square in London and at LEGO House in Billund, Denmark from June 24 until September 20.