December 3, 2024
NASA is going back to the Moon! In order to enable astronauts to stay on the lunar surface for long periods of time, new infrastructure, habitats, and systems are needed to conduct the ever more ambitious missions. Learning to build this infrastructure from lunar resources is important. Can your students help tackle this challenge?
Join the Build the Moon Challenge today!
Develop your own regolith concrete mixture and design your lunar habitat!
The lunar surface is covered with a fine-grained rocky material called regolith. We can use this material to help build the infrastructure needed for future missions. This process is called In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU).
In this challenge, students will get hands-on with a lunar regolith simulant engineered in the lab to mimic the properties found on the Moon.
A Program Guide walks students through a series of activities to learn about the properties of lunar regolith, develop a concrete mixture using regolith, test your concrete strength, and use what you have learned to design a lunar habitat for future long-duration missions to the surface of the Moon!
Students must be in middle school or Junior High grades (6th through 9th) during the academic year of their participation.
Texas-based teams may apply for Space Grant Funding, applications for funding are due December 15th. To learn more about the Build the Moon Challenge, click the button below.