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.