Lunarcrete

Researcher Larry Beyer of the University of Pittsburgh says a lunarcrete project would begin with the shipment of two molds and a work crew from Earth. First, the workers would bolt together an inner mold. It would be pressure tight and would serve as their temporary quarters. Then they'd erect an outer mold with a six-foot gap from the inner mold.

Lunarcrete or mooncrete could be made from lunar regolith, water and cement with the cement manufactured from lunar rock with a high calcium content.

One method is to combine regolith with a bonding agent to create lunar concrete (aka. "lunarcrete"), which can be printed out to build structures. In terms of benefits, lunarcrete requires less energy to produce than other building materials, is unaffected by extreme variations in temperature, absorbs harmful radiation, and is unaffected by prolonged exposure to vacuum.

This paper provides a fundamental basis for future research on confinement and strengthening for future coarse aggregate-free concretes, such as lunarcrete and 3D-printed concrete.