Abstract:Additive manufacturing technology, also known as 3D printing technology, can realize the manufacture of complex structure devices, what has some potential in construction, mechanical processing and other application fields. As human desire to explore the universe intensifies, all countries have decided to use the moon as a ‘springboard’, with the abundant lunar soil resource on the moon which can satisfy the in-situ manufacturing of small parts or large buildings by 3D printing technology to gradually develop the space exploration program. At present, researchers have successfully configured a variety of lunar regolith simulant, which are similar in composition and particle size distribution to real lunar soil. And the use of D-shape, micro-extrusion ink 3D printing, laser additive manufacture processing, digital light processing and other additive manufacturing processes have successfully printed out structures by the lunar regolith simulant. Among them, the compressive strength and flexural strength of the lunar regolith simulant structural samples printed by digital light processing technology after degreasing and sintering can reach 428.1 MPa and 129.5 MPa, respectively, what verifies the feasibility of additive manufacturing technology for in-situ manufacturing on the planet in the future. This paper is intended to provide a reference for the research on the in-situ manufacturing technology of the moon and other cosmic bodies in the space.
