Created by NASA-funded engineers at the University of Arizona, the simple-looking structures actually contain sensors that aid in their robotic construction, then alert astronauts to changes in environmental conditions.
As part of its Artemis programme, NASA is planning to return people to the surface of the Moon for the first time since 1972, and to establish a lunar base for humans by the end of the decade. Missions will land on the Moon from 2026 onwards.
Arizona associate professor Jekan Thanga’s team is developing technology for the Moon landings as part of a consortium called Lunar-Bric, a partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech and MDA, a space robotics company.
Moon dwellers will need semi-permanent safe shelters while they search for optimal locations to erect permanent buildings, Thanga said.
That is the aim of the new structures, which were first inspired by the work of Nader Khalili. In the 1980s, the architect presented the idea of sandbag structures for lunar and space habitation to NASA. He then developed SuperAdobe sandbag construction for homes on Earth.
Thanga combined Khalili's ideas with the concept of insect ‘skyscrapers’, cathedral-like termite mounds in African and Australian deserts that regulate the subterranean nest environment.
“In the case of the termites, it's very relevant to our off-world challenges. The extreme desert environments the termites face are analogous to lunar conditions,” Thanga said. “Importantly, this whole approach doesn't rely on water. Most of the moon is bone-dry desert.”
The architecture of insect social systems – such as a termite colony constructing and maintaining a large, complicated mound – was applied to distributed robot networks, in which machines work together without human intervention.
The team investigated whether sandbags filled with regolith (soil and mineral fragments from the Moon's surface) could replace traditional building materials for lunar housing, warehouses, control towers, robot garages, landing pads, protective jackets for robots, and blast walls to protect assets during turbulent take-offs and landings.
The robot-assembled sandbag shelters, which are reportedly erected quickly and easily, could reduce the material that needs to be transported to the Moon, provide climate control, and protect against moonquakes and other hazards – temperatures ranging from -183ºC to 107ºC, micro-meteors bombarding the surface at 60,000mph, and solar radiation and lunar dust that threaten exploration.
Robots embed sensors and electronics in the sandbags and fill them with lunar regolith before assembling the structures in place. Some sensors provide location data to help the robots place the sandbags. Others supply environmental information, and communication capabilities to warn of danger.
The structures, which Thanga is confident will be used, could lead to development of other facilities for long-term habitation and industry, such as Moon and asteroid mining.
Tech Launch Arizona, the university’s commercialisation arm, worked with Thanga to file patents on the distributed computer processing networks that the team developed to link the structures and robots together.
The team presented a paper detailing the technology at the American Astronautical Society Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference.
Want the best engineering stories delivered straight to your inbox? The Professional Engineering newsletter gives you vital updates on the most cutting-edge engineering and exciting new job opportunities. To sign up, click here.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.