Research Status of Additive Manufacturing Lunar in-situ Forming Technology

Abstract

This is an essay in the field of ceramics and composites. For decades, space exploration has been a hot topic. With the launch of Chang'e 5, China officially opened the first extraterrestrial celestial body sampling return journey. The lunar base construction program in China is officially on the agenda. Lunar exploration is the first step for human to conduct deep space exploration, and the utilization of lunar in-situ resources is of great significance for lunar exploration. Additive manufacturing is an effective means to carry out in-situ lunar resource utilization to build a lunar base. This paper describes the basic properties of lunar soil and the characteristics and composition of simulated lunar soil, and focuses on summarizing the current research progress of simulated lunar soil additive manufacturing in China and abroad. Important challenges are presented for the key technology of additive manufacturing for the lunar weathering layer (i.e., lunar soil). The development prospect of additive manufacturing technology and possible ways of implementation are discussed around China's lunar base construction project.

Keywords

• ceramics and composites
• additive manufacturing
• simulated lunar soil
• in-situ resource utilization (isru)
• forming accuracy