Abstract
The University of Central Florida invention is a system and method for improving the sintering of lunar soil. The moon contains a wide variety of building materials for landing pads, radiation protection, meteoroid shields, and other uses. A favored method for stabilizing the regolith for construction is sintering. The process is simple, scalable, and creates a material strong enough to withstand the high temperatures of rocket exhaust. However, current sintering methods and their substantial energy requirements could delay or prevent other needed lunar projects. Also, the methods create a non-uniform temperature field in the soil which creates an inadequate sinter quality.
As a solution, the UCF system makes sintering faster with less risk of runaway melting, reduces the energy required (by 50 percent or more), and creates a better-sintered product by maintaining a constant temperature throughout the depth of the sintering material. In an example application, the entire system (excavating, beneficiating, laying and compacting layers, and sintering) can be packaged onto a single robot for single-pass construction of landing pads and roads. The functions can also be separated into distinct excavation, beneficiation, and construction machines for larger-scale efficiency in future operations.
Partnering Opportunity
The research team is looking for partners to develop the technology further for commercialization.
Benefit
Improved sintering of lunar soilMay reduce construction power requirement by 50 percent layer-by-layer sintering with outstanding mechanical propertiesFrees up power for use by other operations of the lunar project Market Application
Lunar miningConstruction of outposts/launch pads
Brochure
