Lego Bricks Made From Meteorite Dust 3D Printed by Europe's Space Agency (engadget.com) 27
Lego teamed up with the European Space Agency to make Lego pieces from actual meteorite dust, writes Engadget.
"It's a proof of concept to show how astronauts could use moondust to build lunar structures." Consider the sheer amount of energy and money required to haul up building materials from Earth to the Moon. It would be a game changer to, instead, build everything from pre-existing lunar materials. There's a layer of rock and mineral deposits at the surface of the Moon, which is called lunar regolith...
However, there isn't too much lunar regolith here on Earth for folks to experiment with. ESA scientists made their own regolith by grinding up a really old meteorite. [4.5 billion years, according to Lego's site, discovered in Africa in 2000.] The dust from this meteorite was turned into a mixture that was used to 3D print the Lego pieces. Voila. Moon bricks. They click together just like regular Lego bricks, though they only come in one color (space gray obviously.)
"The result is amazing," says ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley on the Lego site (though "the bricks may look a little rougher than usual. Importantly the clutch power still works, enabling us to play and test our designs.")
"Nobody has built a structure on the Moon," Cowley said in an ESA statement. "So it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks." And the bricks will also be "helping to inspire the next generation of space engineers," according to the ESA's announcement — since they'll be on display in select Lego stores in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia through September 20th.
"It's a proof of concept to show how astronauts could use moondust to build lunar structures." Consider the sheer amount of energy and money required to haul up building materials from Earth to the Moon. It would be a game changer to, instead, build everything from pre-existing lunar materials. There's a layer of rock and mineral deposits at the surface of the Moon, which is called lunar regolith...
However, there isn't too much lunar regolith here on Earth for folks to experiment with. ESA scientists made their own regolith by grinding up a really old meteorite. [4.5 billion years, according to Lego's site, discovered in Africa in 2000.] The dust from this meteorite was turned into a mixture that was used to 3D print the Lego pieces. Voila. Moon bricks. They click together just like regular Lego bricks, though they only come in one color (space gray obviously.)
"The result is amazing," says ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley on the Lego site (though "the bricks may look a little rougher than usual. Importantly the clutch power still works, enabling us to play and test our designs.")
"Nobody has built a structure on the Moon," Cowley said in an ESA statement. "So it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks." And the bricks will also be "helping to inspire the next generation of space engineers," according to the ESA's announcement — since they'll be on display in select Lego stores in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia through September 20th.
What is the point of a boring spectacle? (Score:1)
You combine two of my favorite things and you fuck it up by embracing the spirit of neither. Displaying individual bricks at tourist locations is literally more boring than using them in a little moondust gas station. I can look at your bricks through glass right here and now on my computer screen. People really have no imagination anymore.
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It won't be 8x2 blocks (Score:2)
If I was assembling a structure on the Moon that would need to hold pressure to keep me alive, I'd build igloos then spray sealant on the interior. Standard cutouts for port holes and airlocks... Which presumably still would be lifted from Earth.
That means parts with a variety of curvatures for different levels, but if you're 3D printing on site that isn't such a big deal.
It actually doesn't take much regolith to reduce radiation levels to something safe. And you only have to print a good solid shell, it
nah, it will be 4x4 (Score:2)
They work *so* much better when you sprinkle them outside for unsuspecting aliens to step on!
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Now there's a study: effects of reduced gravity on human footfalls on Lego bricks.
We should send a couple of blocks on the next manned lunar mission.
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[click]Houston, we have a problem[click]
OK, what nowww?
[click]it seems that when you step on a lego in a Boeing spacesuit, the sole roles off![click]
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The Moon is indeed made more or less of the same stuff as Earth, though a lot of the details of how differences arose and how sure we are about it seems to change. Scientist aren't 100% sure.
Giant impact, yes, Moon coalescing from orbiting debris, yes, but beyond that there's apparently significant room left for study and debate.
But the very outer surface? I am not an expert by any means, but there are a lot of impact craters on the Moon. I'd expect a lot of pulverized meteor spread around on the surface
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Pointless (Score:2)
That sure will be real helpful for anyone with access to the bountiful lunar cornfields; and the fact that you can mix a fair amount of miscellaneous powder into polymer printing filaments without totally ruining their properties is not what you'd call a novel result.
I guess that it worked as a stunt, because this is probably the 3rd time I've seen it today; but as a proof of concept it is a trivial demonstration of a concept essentia
Re:Pointless (Score:5, Interesting)
Every gram of in situ filler used is a gram you didn't have to lift from Earth.
It would be nice to go 100% local material, but every additional percentage points is bringing down costs and increasing practicality.
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Won't the sharpness make it a better aggregate?
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Nobody's going to be running their hands along the exterior, which means interior panels. You're going to want to seal that up anyway, since presumably any airborne regolith that rubbed off would do WONDERS to your lungs.
So now we're talking about hauling a sealant up to the Moon that can be applied in vacuum. Or maybe the 3D printer could put a thick layer of PLA (or whatever they're using) without regolith filler on the side intended to be on the interior of a building.
I have to wonder if you could make
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Another thought with regards to sintering... lunar regolith is molten at something like 10-11x the temperature of the lunar surface in full sunlight. That's still well within the ability of a solar sinter oven, so in theory you could melt bits of the Moon into whatever shape you desire, and that should take care of the sharp edges.
I don't know that we've tested the mechanical properties of freshly made rocks from this process (I'm pretty sure we haven't!), nor considered how to pour into and extract from m
Life-size Lego House (Score:2)
Regolith (Score:4)
Legolith?
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Yes: they missed a trick.
Considering their motto of "det bedste er ikke for godt", I'm somewhat disappointed! They can and should do better!
media buy? (Score:2)
this is the third Lego "news story" i've seen today: this one, one about Ukraine using Lego bricks or toys in the war, and one about how shoplifters love stealing Lego bricks or toys.
note: i originally include the TM, circle R and circle C marks behind the L word to emphasize the corporosity but ofc /. garbled them all up on preview and i didn't want to look like some asshole posting from an iphone so i removed the marks
What did they use as a binder? (Score:2)
How did they get the dust to stick together? Water? The isn't much on the moon, and it's pretty heavy.
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War coming in 5,4,3.. (Score:2)
Nothing new (Score:2)
That's cool but... (Score:2)
There used to be a time when you got a big container of a bunch of different bricks and you had to use your imagination to make things. At some point, Lego took away that creativity and including instructions for building specific things. Which one are astronauts going to get?