UT San Antonio moon rock researchers seeking the ideal recipe to build lunar bases
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Exploration Architecture Corporation founder and CEO Sam Ximenes poses Wednesday, May 19, 2021, in his Port San Antonio lab with some of the basalt powder with which his company works. XArc received a $50 million NASA small business grant to evaluate lunar landing pad construction using technology to melt moon soil, which contains a large amount of basalt, to build landing pads for spacecraft.William Luther, Staff / William Luther
Making strong bricks on Earth is hard. Making strong bricks on the moon is harder.
But some researchers in a University of Texas at San Antonio laboratory are working to make it possible. They’re studying how to melt moon rocks, and the knowledge they glean could someday help humans build lunar outposts.