![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2019\/01\/lunar_building_block\/19204906-1-eng-GB\/Lunar_building_block_small.jpg\")
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\nThis 1.5 tonne block was 3D printed from simulated lunar dust, to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a Moon base using local materials.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe building block is on show in the laboratory corridor of ESA\u2019s ESTEC<\/a> technical centre in the Netherlands, visited during public tours from neighbouring Space Expo<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nProduced using a binding salt as \u2018ink\u2019, its design is based on a hollow closed-cell structure \u2013 combining strength with low weight, similar to bird bones. The structure was made during an initial feasibility project on lunar 3D printing<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nESA has subsequently investigated other types of lunar 3D printing, including solar sintering<\/a> and ceramics<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nA recently completed study also looked into all the ways that 3D printing could contribute to the construction and operation of a lunar base<\/a>, and included a competition asking the public for ideas to 3D print to make the Moon feel like home<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \nThis 1.5 tonne block was 3D printed from simulated lunar dust, to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a Moon base using local materials.\n<\/p>\n \nThe building block is on show in the laboratory corridor of ESA’s ESTEC<\/a> technical centre in the Netherlands, visited during public tours from neighbouring Space Expo<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nProduced using a binding salt as ‘ink’, its design is based on a hollow closed-cell structure – combining strength with low weight, similar to bird bones. The structure was made during an initial feasibility project on lunar 3D printing<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nESA has subsequently investigated other types of lunar 3D printing, including solar sintering<\/a> and ceramics<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nA recently completed study also looked into all the ways that 3D printing could contribute to the construction and operation of a lunar base<\/a>, and included a competition asking the public for ideas to 3D print to make the Moon feel like home<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":615444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multimedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=572269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572270,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572269\/revisions\/572270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/615444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=572269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=572269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=572269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n