Space scientists 3D print LEGO bricks with meteorite dust to build astronaut homes on moon

Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) produce 3D printed bricks similar to LEGO blocks using dust from a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite. Dubbed ESA Space Bricks, these construction materials come out because the scientists are designing launch pads and shelters for astronauts who are visiting the moon as part of the Artemis program. They want to understand and test whether or not the materials astronauts will find in space could be used to construct buildings there. To find and review their discovery, they first 3D printed ESA Space 'LEGO' Bricks from the closest space material they could get on Earth, which is the meteorite dust.

LEGO-like space bricks made of meteorite dust

The space material on the moon is regolith, which NASA describes as 'a layer of unconsolidated debris'. The issue is that there's only a very small sample available on Earth, collected from the Apollo mission. The closest material next to it is meteorite. The scientists of the European Space Agency (ESA) grind them up into dust and mix them with a small amount of polylactide and regolith simulant.