On Friday, the country launches a unique experiment aboard the Tiangong space station, the purpose of which will be to test the possibility of producing building materials from lunar soil.

Prototypes of the bricks, developed by scientists from Huazhong University in Wuhan Province, will be sent into orbit aboard a cargo rocket. Basalt samples imitating the properties of lunar soil will be exposed to the space environment.

"We will put the material into space and leave it there to check how much its strength and characteristics will deteriorate under the influence of extreme conditions," explained Professor Zhou Cheng from Huazhong University.

The moon is an extremely inhospitable environment: the temperature on its surface varies from +180 to -190 degrees Celsius, and the absence of an atmosphere makes it vulnerable to cosmic radiation and micrometeorites. In addition, ground tremors — "moonshakes" — can weaken structures.

The development of the bricks is based on the analysis of lunar soil samples delivered by the Chang'e-5 mission. The resulting black bricks turned out to be three times stronger than ordinary terrestrial analogues. Moreover, they can be connected to each other without the use of binding materials.

For future construction, scientists have also developed a 3D printer robot called the "Moon Spider", which will be able to create structures from lunar soil right on the spot. "In the future, we plan to use exclusively local resources to avoid transporting construction materials from the Ground," Zhou said.

The experiment will last for three years, with annual return of samples to Earth for analysis. The use of lunar soil will not only significantly reduce the cost of the construction process, but will also overcome many difficulties associated with the delivery of goods to the Earth's natural satellite, reports hi-tech.mail.ru.