LUCKNOW: Amid the ongoing deep lunar explorations of under country’s ambitious Moon Mission and long-duration human space missions, scientists at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU), have developed a lunar soil simulant closely resembling the composition of the Moon’s surface and initiated research on extracting metals from it for future space construction technologies.
The institute has also emerged one among the pioneering academic institutions in the country exploring the use of extracted materials for 3D printing-based fabrication of bricks, tiles and structural components that may eventually support extraterrestrial habitats.
The development aligns with country’s growing focus on advanced lunar technologies following the historic success of Chandrayaan-3 Mission and the country’s broader ambitions for future human space exploration missions.
The multidisciplinary project, being led by Prof Kamalesh Kumar Singh of the Department of Metallurgical Engineering and backed by Dr Ankush Kumar from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is focused on “In-Situ Resource Utilisation” (ISRU), a concept aimed at using materials available on the Moon itself for construction and manufacturing purposes instead of transporting heavy infrastructure from Earth.
According to IIT (BHU) director Prof Amit Patra, the research reflects India’s transition from space exploration to the development of sustainable space technologies.
“India’s achievements in space science are now inspiring indigenous research aimed at enabling future lunar infrastructure and long-duration human presence beyond earth. Technologies that utilise locally available resources on the Moon will be critical for reducing mission costs and building sustainable extraterrestrial habitats. IIT (BHU) is committed to contributing to this national vision through interdisciplinary and futuristic research,” said Dr Patra.
Prof Kamalesh Kumar Singh, leading the research, said that the success of Chandrayaan-3 had generated global scientific interest in Moon’s south polar region, which is believed to contain water ice entrapped in lunar soil and several strategically important resources that could support future lunar missions.
According to the other researchers, including Dr Pawan Sharma, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr Udita Ghosh, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Research scholars Rachita Singh and Abhishek Singh, Department of Metallurgical Engineering, involved in the project, the Moon’s surface is covered with a fine layer called regolith, formed over billions of years due to continuous micrometeorite impacts.
This regolith contains several important minerals and oxides including plagioclase, olivine, pyroxene, ilmenite, chromite, quartz and silica-rich compounds that may prove useful for future lunar infrastructure development, says the team of researchers.
It adds that the lunar soil simulant has been developed using specially processed soil, rocks and chemical additives based on scientific studies of lunar surface composition. Ball milling techniques were, subsequently, used to produce ultra-fine particles and achieve uniformity in the material. Researchers are currently analysing the rheological properties of slurry-based inks prepared from these simulants to evaluate their suitability for advanced 3D printing applications in extraterrestrial environments.
Scientists associated with the project believe that such technologies could eventually support the on-site fabrication of shelters, landing pads and construction materials on the Moon, thereby, significantly reducing transportation costs and improving the feasibility of future long-duration lunar missions.
As per the team of researchers, the key objectives of the project include synthesis and characterisation of lunar soil simulants; development of metal extraction techniques from lunar-like regolith; exploration of 3D printing applications using lunar simulants and extracted materials and advancement of technologies relevant to future lunar habitats and sustainable space missions.
Researchers believe that as India continues to expand its ambitions in lunar exploration and human spaceflight, technologies being developed at IIT-(BHU) could play an important role in supporting future Moon habitat missions and deep-space exploration initiatives.
