One of NASA’s priority objectives under the Artemis mission is to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon. Critical to achieving this goal is providing infrastructure for long-term exploration and habitation. Scientists from Wrocław University of Science and Technology, led by Dr Damian Pietrusiak, in collaboration with the Wrocław-based company Four Point, have developed an innovative device for sorting a layer of lunar dust and rock – known as regolith.
This device enables the utilisation of the finest particles of the lunar surface for producing regolith-based bricks, potentially playing a key role in building lunar infrastructure. The Polish scientists’ solution has already been licensed by the American company Astroport Space Technologies.
Lunar dust: The potential of regolith
NASA’s Artemis programme aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, focusing on the lunar south pole. Following the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022 and the crewed Artemis II mission planned for September 2025, Artemis III is expected to land astronauts on the Moon no earlier than 2026.
The Artemis Base Camp will act as a hub for exploration, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface. One of the key challenges will be facing extreme conditions on the Moon, that include temperature variations ranging from -208°C to 121°C, high levels of cosmic radiation, the risk of micrometeoroid impacts, and challenges posed by the toxic and abrasive lunar dust.
Scientists emphasise that the key factor in the success of building lunar bases, given the Moon’s harsh conditions, will be the utilisation of local materials and resources . One such resource is regolith.
This material covers the entire lunar surface, with a thickness ranging from about 2 metres in younger lunar maria to up to 20 metres in older highland regions. It consists of dust, minerals, and rock fragments, which can be used as a source of oxygen, water and building materials or in space exploration.
Although loose regolith can be hazardous to humans, when appropriately processed, it can serve as a construction material for producing tiles and bricks, which could be used, for example, to build landing pads.
What’s the core of the Polish invention?
American scientists from Astroport Space Technologies (a U.S. company specialising in regolith processing and lunar infrastructure development) have already developed a technology for sintering fine regolith particles, called the Lunatron Bricklayer. However, a significant challenge remained: efficiently sorting regolith to separate fine particles from larger fragments.
This challenge was addressed by a Polish invention developed by Dr Damian Pietrusiak, Dr Przemysław Moczko, and Dr Jakub Wróbel from Wrocław University of Science and Technology.
Traditional sorting methods, such as those based on water, air, or gravity, cannot be used on the Moon due to the lack of atmosphere and water. The Polish invention operates independently of gravity, making it suitable not only for use on the Moon but also on other planets and asteroids.
Professor Pietrusiak explains that the device functions as a centrifugal separator, a spinning drum that sorts regolith particles by size. The innovation lies in a spiral integrated inside the rotating conical drum, with both the drum and spiral spinning at the same speed.
Larger regolith fragments are guided along the spiral and move downward to the bottom of the device, while finer particles are pushed to the drum’s walls and ejected through small openings into an external container.
As noted by Wrocław University, the invention is protected under the patent application titled “Rotor of a centrifugal separator and method of sieving bulk materials in a centrifugal separator” („Wirnik separatora odśrodkowego i sposób przesiewania materiałów sypkich w separatorze odśrodkowym”).
The team working on the project: from left, Damian Pietrusiak, PhD, Eng. Associate Professor, Dr. Eng. Jakub Wróbel, and Dr. hab. Przemysław Moczko, Associate Professor (Photo: Wrocław University of Science and Technology).
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