Abstract
The environment on the lunar surface poses some difficult challenges to building long-term lunar bases; therefore, scientists and engineers have proposed the creation of habitats using lunar building materials. These materials must meet the following conditions: be resistant to severe lunar temperature cycles, be stable in a vacuum environment, have minimal water requirements, and be sourced from local Moon materials. Therefore, the preparation of lunar building materials that use lunar resources is preferred. Here, we present a potential lunar cement material that was fabricated using tektite powder and a sodium hydroxide activator and is based on geopolymer technology. Geopolymer materials have the following properties: approximately zero water consumption, resistance to high- and low-temperature cycling, vacuum stability and good mechanical properties. Although the tektite powder is not equivalent to lunar soil, we speculate that the alkali activated activity of lunar soil will be higher than that of tektite because of its low Si/Al composition ratio. This assumption is based on the tektite geopolymerization research and associated references. In summary, this study provides a feasible approach for developing lunar cement materials using a possible water recycling system based on geopolymer technology.
Highlights
The environment on the lunar surface poses some difficult challenges to building long-term lunar bases; scientists and engineers have proposed the creation of habitats using lunar building materials
The NASA Human Exploration Destination Systems Roadmap mentions the development of technologies for shielding astronauts from radiation during missions to the lunar surface and Mars between 2017 and 2022 (1)
Based on the X-ray diffraction (XRD) phase structure and chemical composition comparison of Lei Gong Mo and lunar soil, it was determined that the structure of tektites is amorphous without a crystal phase
Summary
The environment on the lunar surface poses some difficult challenges to building long-term lunar bases; scientists and engineers have proposed the creation of habitats using lunar building materials. These materials must meet the following conditions: be resistant to severe lunar temperature cycles, be stable in a vacuum environment, have minimal water requirements, and be sourced from local Moon materials. Scientists and engineers propose the creation of habitats using lunar building materials These lunar building materials will be designed and prepared based on the following primary considerations3: [1] resistance to severe lunar temperature cycles (102.4 K to 387.1 K), [2] stability in a vacuum environment, [3] minimal water requirements, and [4] sourced from local Moon materials. If the water is collected and reused, its consumption will be significantly less than the consumption in traditional cement materials
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