How to build roads on the moon? Latest international research claims that laser melting of lunar soil can create paving materials

Beijing, October 13th (Reporter Sun Zifa) How to build roads on the moon? Springer Nature's open access academic journal "Scientific Report" recently published a research paper on astronomical concept validation, stating that using lasers to melt lunar soil to create harder layered material may create paved roads and landing pads on the moon.Although this experiment was conducted using lunar dust substitutes on Earth, the findings of this study demonstrate the feasibility of the technology, indicating that it can be replicated on the moon, thus becoming an important achievement in "paving the way for the moon"

Beijing, October 13th (Reporter Sun Zifa) How to build roads on the moon? Springer Nature's open access academic journal "Scientific Report" recently published a research paper on astronomical concept validation, stating that using lasers to melt lunar soil to create harder layered material may create paved roads and landing pads on the moon.

Although this experiment was conducted using lunar dust substitutes on Earth, the findings of this study demonstrate the feasibility of the technology, indicating that it can be replicated on the moon, thus becoming an important achievement in "paving the way for the moon". However, the author of the paper also reminds that further research is needed to improve the process in the future.

The paper introduces that lunar dust is a major challenge for lunar rovers, as low gravity can cause lunar dust to float around and potentially damage equipment. Therefore, infrastructure such as roads and landing pads is crucial for alleviating dust problems and promoting transportation on the moon, but transporting building materials from Earth is expensive, making it necessary to use existing resources on the moon.

The author of the paper pointed out that although experiments have confirmed that intersecting or overlapping laser beam paths can cause fractures, they have developed a strategy to create a triangular, central hollow geometric shape using a 45 millimeter diameter laser beam, with a size of approximately 250 millimeters. They believe that this triangular material can be embedded with each other, creating a solid surface in a large area of lunar soil, as a material for laying roads and landing on the lunar surface.

The author of the paper also calculated that reproducing this experimental method on the moon requires transporting a lens of approximately 2.37 square meters from Earth to serve as a sunlight concentrator instead of a laser. Therefore, its required equipment volume is relatively small, which may be an advantage in future lunar missions. (End)

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