Astronauts in the International Space Station are always carrying out experiments to see how different materials behave in space and now, instead of looking into how zero gravity impacts things like plants and worms they’re looking into something much more mundane: concrete. The teams aboard the ISS are now investigating ways to create concrete in space using things like moon dust in order to shape how a future lunar base could be constructed.
Onboard the ISS, a team of astronauts has been mixing up a new construction material using simulated lunar dirt and a few other ingredients (which NASA hasn’t identified). The space cement will then be brought back to Earth an analyzed to see if its a viable building material, as NASA explained in a blog post:
NASA and its international partners are studying ways to make it economical to construct satellites in space, as well as build crew habitats on the Moon. Building the materials on Earth and launching them aboard rockets is costly in terms of mass and fuel. One option engineers are considering includes autonomous satellites that can navigate to other satellites for refueling, spacecraft repair, and orbital manufacturing. Another possibility, is using the microgravity environment to mix lunar soil with other materials to make cement and build habitable structures on the Moon.
NASA Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick explored how microgravity affects the production of cement materials that could be used to build infrastructure on the lunar surface. He mixed two bags containing simulated lunar soil and other materials with a liquid solution, he placed another bag with hot water in between them, then he inserted them inside a thermos can for overnight incubation. After several more weeks of settling at ambient temperature, the concrete samples will be returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo craft for analysis.
Once returned to Earth and analyzed by NASA experts, the experiment could form the building blocks for the construction of a new permanent base on the Moon, which is NASA’s long-term goal with the Artemis program.
If successful, the concrete test could pave the way for NASA engineers to assemble a lunar base without needing to ship tons of cement to the Moon’s surface, which could cost millions of dollars, as Space.com explains:
The experiment is part of the Material Science on the Solidification of Concrete (Concrete Hardening) investigation, which is using different combinations of cement, water, sand, simulated lunar soil and “other additives”, an experiment description states.
The goal is not only to build sustainable structures on the moon, but to find viable alternatives to cement — upon which concrete is based on Earth. Cement requires a lot of energy and raw material and can also release carbon dioxide in the manufacturing process, the experiment makers added. Complications can also arise during mixing, such as air pores, bubbles and brittleness. The experiment aims to smooth out these issues by testing out lunar construction on the ISS.
The cement tests on the ISS are being carried out while it houses two additional astronauts stranded in orbit by Boeing. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stranded onboard the ISS after issues were identified with their Starliner space craft. As a result, they’ve been stuck there for more than 70 days carrying out the jobs nobody else on the ISS wants to do.