What if the key to living on the Moon is already there? Step into the shoes of an aerospace engineer and
investigate how lunar regolith can be transformed into the building blocks of future space habitats. Through this immersive challenge, you’ll apply advanced engineering principles, experiment with lunar regolith simulant, design structures built to survive the harshest environment we’ve explored yet: space.
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.
An Activity 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 high school during the academic year of their participation.
Texas-based teams may apply for Space Grant Funding to cover application costs by August 16. To learn more about the Build the Moon Challenge, click the button below.