Development of bio-inspired architectural composite materials from partially lunar resources
Context: ESA (European Space Agency) is looking for innovative ideas for the development of infrastructure to sustain space exploration through the use of local (extraterrestrial) resources. Applications include infrastructure to protect crews and equipment from space conditions (meteorite impacts, radiation…). In the framework of the ESA call for projects “In Situ Resource Utilization”, we propose to design and fabricate new 3D printed architectural composite materials from partially lunar resources (regolith) being able to present a high resistance to high velocity impacts. Their microstructure and energy dissipation principle will be inspired by biological structures such as the dactyl shrimp.
We propose a thesis co-supervised by IRDL UMR CNRS (Univ UBS-Lorient), PIMM (ENSAM-Paris) and ESTEC-ESA (Noordwijk, Netherlands). The work will be carried out mainly in Lorient and Paris. Several investigations may be carried out at ESA-ESTEC and RWT Aachen for the production of regolith fibres.
The research project includes :
– Bibliography (biomimicry, energy dissipation mechanism, 3D printing…)
– Filament production
– Manufacturing by 3D printing and characterisation of structures for impact resistance
– Design and optimisation of structures
– Dissemination in the form of conferences and articles.
