Researchers from the Institute of High Technologies and Advanced Materials at Far Eastern Federal University have developed a technology for creating construction materials for future lunar bases that can effectively protect astronauts from space radiation. The results of their study have been published in the journal Nauchaya Rossiya (Scientific Russia); the technology is currently being tested at a research reactor in Tomsk.
Cosmic radiation is one of the biggest challenges for long-term lunar missions, and its impact requires new materials that can provide reliable protection for both people and equipment.
The Russian scientists have responded to this challenge by proposing to use local lunar soil, or regolith, as a construction material for lunar bases. Since access to real regolith is limited, laboratory experiments used not only existing samples but also volcanic rocks from Kamchatka and the Primorye Territory that resemble it in chemical and mineral structure. Boron compounds, namely, carbide (B₄C), nitride (BN) and lanthanum hexaboride (LaB₆), were added to the regolith. Each compound has special protective properties: B₄C effectively absorbs neutrons and has high hardness, BN is resistant to chemical exposure and insulates heat well, and LaB₆ has high heat resistance and strength.
The resulting mixture was used to produce durable ceramic materials with the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. The lead author of the study, candidate of chemical sciences Oleg Shichalin, call this process an “instant furnace of the future”: a powdered mixture of regolith and boron-containing additives is placed in a mold through which powerful short pulses of electric current are passed under pressure. The electrical discharges that arise between the particles form micro-lightning, which heats the material to a temperature of 1,000–2,000°C in a matter of minutes. Meanwhile, the press compresses the mixture, ensuring dense sintering to form a virtually defect-free ceramic plate. Among the key advantages of the method are high speed (only 5–15 minutes per cycle instead of several hours in conventional furnaces), energy efficiency (the material itself is heated instead of all equipment) and the high quality of the final product, which has no pores or cracks.
Currently, the obtained materials are being tested at the IRT-1 research reactor in Tomsk, where impacts as close as possible to the lunar environment, including solar and galactic radiation, are simulated in laboratory conditions. At the same time, the researchers believe that the new technology of sintering construction materials will have to be tested directly on the surface of the Moon. The use of regolith as an accessible local resource will significantly reduce the cost of delivering materials from Earth. In addition, the ability to produce construction elements on the Moon will increase the autonomy of lunar bases and improve the safety of long-term space missions.
The researchers stress that Russia possesses the technological resources required to implement projects of this kind. For instance, the country is developing heavy launch vehicles, such as the Angara-A5V, which can deliver up to 37 tons of payload to low Earth orbit, and the super-heavy Yenisei launch vehicle with an estimated payload capacity of about 100 tons. These rockets will be able to transport spark plasma sintering equipment and construction modules to the Moon. In addition, Russia has small nuclear reactors, including the Topaz thermionic system, which can be used as a reliable energy source for such technologies on a lunar base.
