The establishment of a lunar base is crucial for lunar studies, resource extraction, and advancement in deep space exploration . Considering the limitations of rocket capacity and Earth-Moon transportation costs, lunar regolith is regarded as the most practical material for lunar base construction. Consequently, the in-situ additive manufacturing technology for simulated lunar regolith has been widely studied in recent years. This paper proposes a novel additive manufacturing approach for lunar regolith simulants. The simulants and several resins were mixed into a paste with high simulant content of 86 wt%, which was suitable for extrusion-based additive manufacturing process . To fully leverage the lunar environment , the feasibility of the ultraviolet (UV) and thermal curing of the resins was first verified, which was followed by the validation of the lunar regolith paste with the solid content of 86 wt%. After the characterization of the ultraviolet and heat curing properties, the paste was further 3D printed via the extrusion-based device. The extruded paste underwent preliminary curing in a UV environment and was then heated to approximate the daytime lunar conditions, achieving complete curing of the printed component. The cured parts exhibited a compressive strength of 9.83 ± 1.07 MPa, meeting the requirements for infrastructure construction in the low-gravity lunar environment. This work offers significant implications for future in-situ construction on the Moon using extrusion-based additive manufacturing of lunar regolith.
Chunlei Sun,Guihua Tang,Rui Yang,Mu Du,Cong Wang,Zhigang Liu
Constructing a lunar base is strategically vital for deep space exploration, resource development, and future interstellar migration. However, the absence of atmospheric protection exposes the lunar surface to extremely complex thermal management issues and intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation challenges. For the first time, this study presents a multifunctional composite silica aerogel to enhance UV shielding, thermal insulation, and plant photosynthesis for sustainability in lunar base. The doping scheme is based on the numerical simulation combining Mie scattering, discrete dipoles approximation (DDA) and Monte Carlo method. The optimized UV-opacifier TiO 2 has 0.005% volume fraction and 30 nm particle radius. ITO infrared opacifiers, with volume fraction of 0.05% and radius of 20 nm, reduce infrared radiative dissipation, thereby enhancing thermal insulation. Ag nanorods with volume fraction of 0.001%, length-to-diameter ratio of 3.5, and radius of 10 nm, can filter green light, promoting plant photosynthesis and sustainability. Synthesized with a one-step base-catalyzed sol-gel method, this composite aerogel demonstrates 18.4% improvement in UV resistance compared with traditional transparent aerogels, while maintaining visible light transmittance of 75.2%. The thermal conductivity is 0.0409 W/m·K at 400 K. Its exceptional thermal insulation properties achieve energy savings up to 87.1% under extreme temperature fluctuations on the lunar surface. This composite aerogel can provide crucial solution to the sustainable development of lunar bases.
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）