This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Transporting material from Earth to the moon is an expensive proposition: By some estimates, moving a single kilogram (2.2 pounds) can cost more than $1 million. Any plan to build a permanent human habitat up there will depend on bringing that sky-high cost down.
Engineers and planners have long eyed lunar regolith—the small, sharp rocky shards and dust that cover the moon's surface—as an invaluable and abundant printing ingredient. Now, a Concordia study shows how combining regolith with recycled high-performance plastic could be used to 3D print components onsite for future lunar missions. The researchers created a composite using lunar regolith simulant and a recycled, high-performance thermoplastic known as poly(ether ketone ketone), or PEKK.
They then used the composite to successfully 3D print components designed to absorb energy and deform under load rather than serve as permanent structural components. These structures, known as sacrificial structures, were used to measure how well the composite could withstand stresses similar to those the landing mechanism of a lunar module would have to absorb on impact. They also produced a wrench made of the same composite material.
They found the added lunar regolith helped reduce shrinkage and warping during heat treatment. This is an important advantage for manufacturing on the moon, the researchers say, where there is little to no access to equipment for further processing. The study was conducted by Farshad Malekpour, MASc 2026, and Mehdi Hojjati, a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering.
It was published in Composites Part B: Engineering. Crucially, the PEKK used in these demonstrations had been recycled from a previous sacrificial structure, proving that it can be processed and reused while retaining its thermal and mechanical properties. The researchers recycled the material three times without observing any significant degradation or loss of its structural and mechanical properties.
The collected PEKK scrap was shredded, milled into a powder, heat-dried and then mixed with a commercially available lunar regolith simulant. The resulting material was made into filament and 3D printed into standard shapes and a sacrificial structure: in this case, a strong, lightweight, sponge-like configuration designed to let plastics bend and bounce back to their original shapes without damage. The researchers tested how the material responded to heat, stretching, bending and compression.
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