Date of Submission

5-7-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Advisor

Goli Nossoni

Keywords

concrete, construction materials, materials engineering, moon, Fresnel lens

LCSH

Moon, concrete construction, fresnel lenses, materials

Abstract

In recent years NASA has planned to return to the Moon. Additionally, having people travel to the Moon and live on it for prolonged periods of time. Since humans would be living on the Moon, they will need a new type of structural material, one that can be produced from lunar resources. Current concrete technology will not be easily accessible on the Moon, due to the high cost of transporting the materials and lack of water. NASA has developed a problem statement stating, "construction materials on the Moon with integrous material with minimum transportation from Earth." This research examines the manufacturing of a new concrete material called Moonglomrete, which consists of using a Fresnel lens to melt lunar rocks together to form concrete.

Through testing it has been demonstrate that Moonglomrete can be manufactured on Earth. Additionally, it's plausible to manufacture Moonglomrete on the Moon but would primarily be dependent on the Fresnel Lens that is chosen. Further optimization of the manufacturing process was still required. With a primary focus on increasing the size of samples, and taking less time to manufacture Moonglomrete. Currently the manufacturing process of using a Fresnel lens to produce a basalt binder and use anorthosite as an aggregate has been proven as an effective alternative to making concrete on the Moon but warrants further research for options to improve the manufacturing process.

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