Regolith Retention Structure
Sintered Regolith Brick Walls for Overburden Containment
A regolith retention structure is a 0.5-meter-thick retaining wall of sintered regolith bricks designed to contain loose overburden around a lunar habitat dome. Engineered for robotic assembly in a hard vacuum, the design uses mortarless interlocking blocks to bypass the impossibility of curing wet masonry on the Moon. The resulting structure relies on a compressive strength of 50 MPa to mechanically brace compacted regolith under 1/6 g, simultaneously contributing 200 to 400 kg/m² of mass to shield the habitat interface against the unmitigated radiation environment.
Sintered regolith brick retaining walls holding the bulk overburden in place around the habitat dome, also functioning as additional shielding mass.
Purpose
Sintered regolith brick retaining walls holding the bulk overburden in place around the habitat dome, also functioning as additional shielding mass.
Context
Child of L2-RAD-REG within the Lunar Ark system
Principles
- ▸Sintered regolith bricks (manufactured by L1-MFG) bound the overburden
- ▸Brick wall structural compression: ~50 MPa with proper sintering
- ▸Mortarless interlocking design for robotic assembly
- ▸Doubles as additional shielding mass (200-400 kg/m^2)
- ▸Long-life inorganic material (no UV/radiation degradation)
Typical implementations
- ▸ICON Project Olympus 3D-printed regolith concepts
- ▸NASA Sintered Regolith Brick research
- ▸ESA LURK/MOONLITH brick studies
Lunar considerations
- ▸Robotic assembly via L1-ROB
- ▸Replacement bricks manufactured locally if damaged
- ▸Foundation interface to L1-STR habitat structure
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Sintered regolith brick retaining walls holding the bulk overburden in place around the habitat dome, also functioning as additional shielding mass. |
| brick compressive strength mpa | 50 |
| wall thickness m | 0.5 |
Physical
| mass kg | 20000 |
| materials | Sintered regolith bricks, Compacted regolith fill |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 0 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 100 |
| mtbf hours | 1000000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Containment of bulk overburden
- Additional shielding mass
Requires
- Sintered brick production
- Robotic assembly
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Regolith Retention Structure" (L3-RAD-REG-RETAIN). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-RAD-REG-RETAIN
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.