At the end of the stairs leading to the second floor of a Lego store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, a small gray block spins lazily on a thin pedestal. according to Developed in collaboration with a Danish brick manufacturer and the European Space Agency, the Lego blocks are made from meteorite dust. While we won’t see astronauts go into space to try and build the first space version, Barad-durThe space agency claims this is a small-scale test to see how effective Moondust would be in building humanity’s first full-scale lunar structures.
While not available for purchase, the “Space Brick” only comes in one color, “Space Gray,” the Stardust brick is striking up close, with its odd wavy lines and dusty look that’s never found in modern, clean Lego pieces. European Space AgencyThe meteorite dust was broken up from an object first discovered in northwest Africa in 2000.
Each brick isn’t a pure meteorite: It’s made from 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite dust mixed with “small amounts” of thermoplastic polyester that engineers shaped to look like Lego pieces. They also mixed in “simulated regolith,” which in this case mimics the kind of dust found on the Moon. The actual shapes were made with a 3D printer.
So why make bricks from billion-year-old space dust? According to the ESA, it’s to simulate how good this material would be for building real structures. While future astronauts and space engineers won’t start building the first habitable domes on the Moon out of Lego bricks, scientists have been trying to test the potential of space-based materials. Of course, Lunacrete This is a mixture of lunar dust, or regolith, and concrete.
In a press release, ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley said that although the blocks look much rougher than traditional Lego bricks, “the clutch forces are still functional, allowing you to play with them and test designs.” It was good to see that the Space Blocks fit together just as snugly as regular Lego bricks.
One of the persistent challenges in planning lunar structures is transporting tons of material from the surface into Earth’s orbit. NASA has Lunar magnetic levitation transportation systemHowever, this may require many materials that do not exist on the Moon. Recent designs for lunar habitats include: Inflatable Village To A lunar-based “mobile home”.”
And yet humanity Our first real moon base The project, launched by NASA, the Italian Space Agency and the Thales Alenia space company, may not come to fruition until the 2030s at the earliest, so we’ll have to wait and see what the project means beyond early renderings. NASA’s Artemis Program And ultimately, the plan is to go from the Moon to Mars.
Want to see space LEGO in action? If you’re lucky, you might be able to find it at a LEGO store near you. There are a total of 15 shops selling Space Bricks, most of which are located in major US cities. It remains to be seen whether a Space Brick will hurt as much as a regular LEGO piece when you step on it, but to be on the safe side, we recommend that you avoid dropping it in the folds of your carpet.
If you really want space LEGO, you might want to check this out too. LEGO Artemis Launch System There are many other colors available besides “Space Gray.”
