Analysis of Sintered Hawaiian Basalt Building Blocks for Landing Pad Use and Recommendations for Improvement

In situ resource utilization (ISRU) has become an important topic in space exploration. To become sustainable on the Moon, ISRU should be established to provide the necessary material to build structures that will sustain life. In order to begin this continuous presence stay on the Moon, landing pads must be designed and built in order to transport autonomous vehicles and equipment to the lunar surface due to the larger SLS or Star Ship platforms used in Artemis compared to the much lighter Apollo lunar landers. The focus of this abstract will be addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the sintered basalt building block prototype developed at the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) and providing recommendations or solutions to improve it for landing pad use. In a 2018 study conducted at PISCES, a new type of building block was designed from regolith feedstock. This building block was designed for foundations and infrastructure, but more importantly for landing pads. The testing conducted on the lunar building blocks was determined to be able to withstand “the high velocity and high temperature of a solid fuel rocket motor”. The interlocking design did cause the basalt blocks to crack and separate during the rocket test. There are many strengths and weaknesses from this study that will be analyzed in the following report. Additionally, recommendations on improving the basalt block will be taken into consideration for future design improvements and testing. While this block design and recommendations are a possible solution to the landing pad question on the Moon, further research and testing will need to be completed to ensure the safety and durability of future designs. Implementing these recommendations for improvement with the lunar material acquired through ISRU could potentially be the future of landing pads on the Moon and beyond.