A study reported in 2025 and covered by ScienMag demonstrated light-based additive manufacturing of interlocking building blocks from lunar regolith simulant. The experiments used LHS-1 Lunar Highlands Simulant, whose composition approximates lunar material, and produced samples with peak compressive strength of approximately 1.5 MPa.[1][4] The proposed system uses concentrated sunlight to sinter regolith into discrete blocks rather than printing entire buildings.[4][5]
The blocks could be stacked into curved walls, domes, vaults, foundations, landing pads, and radiation-shielding structures, then dismantled and reconfigured as missions expand or settlement layouts change.[1] Local production would reduce launch mass and resupply vulnerability, while modularity could support repair after micrometeoroid impacts, seismic damage, equipment failure, or construction errors. However, the demonstrated 1.5 MPa strength is insufficient for demanding structural applications, and useful-scale operation in lunar vacuum, gravity, and thermal conditions remains unproven.[1][4]
The Ark team should treat this as a promising ISRU construction pathway, not deployment-ready technology. Establish a qualification programme covering vacuum sintering, thermal cycling, abrasive dust, block-to-block tolerances, pressure loading, seismic response, radiation attenuation, and autonomous assembly; benchmark it against NASA ARMADAS voxel systems and MIT MoonBRICCS vitrified-regolith masonry.[2][3] Require full-scale demonstrations using representative highland and polar regolith simulants, with failure-tolerant designs and independently replaceable shielding layers before incorporating the method into habitat architecture.[2][3]