China's Fourth Lunar Exploration Phase: Chang'e 8 Will Explore Local Materials And In-situ 3D Printed Houses

On July 20, 1969, the U.S. "Apollo 11" spacecraft landed on the moon safely, and astronaut Armstrong landed on the moon, leaving a human footprint on the moon for the first time. China will build a permanent comprehensive lunar base to realize long-term human residence.

In order to realize this vision, as early as 2004, China officially launched the lunar exploration project, which was named "Chang'e project", which opened the prelude of China's lunar and deep space exploration. The Chang'e project is divided into three phases: "unmanned lunar exploration", "manned lunar landing" and "building a lunar base".

One of the lunar soil samples brought back by chang'e-5

On December 17, 2020, chang'e-5 lander landed safely with lunar samples, indicating the successful conclusion of the third phase of China's lunar exploration project, and realizing the third step of China's "lunar exploration project" planning of "circling, falling and returning".

On September 10, 2022, according to the National Space Administration, the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project has been approved by the state. It will establish the basic model of the international lunar scientific research station and break through and master a series of key technologies and capabilities for the construction of lunar scientific research stations.

According to the National Space Administration, the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project will continue to carry out three missions including Chang'e 6, Chang'e 7 and Chang'e 8 in the inland in the next ten years.

First, chang'e-6 plans to sample and return on the back of the moon. Chang'e-6 is a backup of chang'e-5. It has basically been produced and is scheduled to be launched around 2024; Second, chang'e-7 will carry out a comprehensive exploration mission of the moon's topography, material composition and space environment. Chang'e-7 is under development and will be launched around 2025; Third, in addition to continuing to carry out scientific exploration experiments, chang'e-8 will also carry out lunar surface experiments on some key technologies. Chang'e-8 is under development and is scheduled to be launched before 2030.

Renderings of the international lunar research station

According to the National Space Administration, it is expected that by 2045, China will build a permanent comprehensive lunar base on the lunar surface, realize long-term human presence, and complete comprehensive and large-scale scientific exploration, technical experiments and the development and utilization of lunar resources.

If chang'e-5 and chang'e-6 are research on the lunar soil, chang'e-7 is to find a suitable site for the construction of a lunar scientific research station, and chang'e-8 is to further explore and verify the possibility of building a base on the moon, and build a basic model of a lunar scientific research station through 3D printing technology.

Effect picture of Chang'e 8

As a pilot project for the research and development of the future international lunar research station, if the mission of chang'e-8 can be successfully completed, many subsequent lunar projects will also be able to be carried out smoothly.

According to the resource library, there is a relatively mature solution in China to build houses on the moon through 3D printing. Recently, Huazhong University of science and technology successfully prepared the first simulated lunar soil vacuum sintering printing sample in China, and further designed the lunar base building named "moon pot Zun".

Renderings of "moon pot statue" moon base

The moon pot is shaped like an egg shell, with a length and width of 3 meters. The interior is hollow, and there is no support structure such as a beam; The eggshell is divided into inner and outer layers, with a rib like structure sandwiched in the middle to enhance stability; The internal space is divided into two layers: the upper layer is the living area and the lower layer is the working area.

Schematic diagram of internal structure of "Yuehu Zun"

The best plan given by Huazhong University of science and technology at present is to combine the traditional Chinese brick making and masonry construction method with the 3D printing construction method, and design and build the lunar surface base by adopting the methods of overall prefabrication and assembly and local printing and connection.

First, solar energy or laser sintering lunar soil is used to prepare lunar soil bricks with tenon and tenon structure, which are then built by robots. At the same time, 3D printing is used to strengthen the connection to avoid structural deformation. Whether it is 3D printing or sintering, it can be integrated into the "moon spider" robot. This 3D printing robot looks like a spider from a distance. The upper part is a hybrid robot arm, and the lower part is a multi legged platform. During construction, the robot arm can also be replaced with a 3D printer.

However, the extreme environment of the moon is also a great challenge to printing. At present, the moon huzun project is still a laboratory product and has not yet experienced the test of actual missions. Chang'e-8 will verify the technology of 3D printing using lunar soil in the real lunar environment.

We look forward to the final result. There are still eight years to go. Maybe with the progress of 3D printing technology, building a house on the moon can be completed in one step and become simpler.