symbolic picture

China is moving towards turning its dreams of human settlement on the Moon into reality. For the first time, Lunar Soil Bricks, i.e. artificial bricks made like lunar soil, have returned to Earth. These bricks reached Earth last week with the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft and have been found completely safe in preliminary investigation.

This success is considered very important for China’s long space mission. This step of China is also important because it is working on a plan to send its astronauts to the Moon by 2030 and to set up the infrastructure of the International Lunar Research Station by 2035.

How did this space mission of making bricks start?

This experiment began in November 2024, when the Tianzhou-8 cargo ship delivered these simulated moon-soil samples to China’s space station. A total of 74 small bricks were placed on a special exposure platform installed on the exterior of the station. The duration of the entire project is three years, under which every year some samples will be sent back to Earth and their changes will be studied. This entire work is being handled by the team of scientist Ding Liyun of Huazhong University of Science and Technology of China.

From which soil are the moon bricks made?

Based on chemical tests of real lunar samples brought by the Chang’e-5 mission, scientists prepared a mixture of lunar soil on Earth. For this, they used volcanic ash from Changbai Hill in Jilin province of China, whose composition is very similar to the lunar soil.

This mixture was shaped into bricks through a high-temperature hot-press sintering process. The special thing is that these bricks are similar in weight to normal bricks, but their capacity to bear pressure is three times more. Besides, they remain stable even in extreme temperatures ranging from -190°C to 180°C and can withstand cosmic radiation.

Bricks on the moon will be prepared by melting them with solar energy

Taking inspiration from traditional Chinese construction techniques, Ding Liyun’s team has created bricks that can be joined using mortistenon joints, i.e. cement-free joining technology. These assemble easily like LEGO. In future, these bricks will be made on the Moon by heating them with solar energy, so that there is no need to transport materials from Earth. Scientists have also prepared such a robot which will be able to build a structure on the moon by joining these bricks. In the final phase the structure will be made stronger using 3D printing.