The extraterrestrial environment physics and intelligent exploration team of the National Major Science and Technology Infrastructure "Space Environment Ground Simulation Facility" at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) has developed a new type of solar concentrator that could in the future melt and sinter lunar soil into "lunar bricks," enabling "local material use" for building houses on the Moon.

This is a reflective compensation system composed of three special mirrors that can precisely converge sunlight like a "magnifying glass," raising the focal point temperature to 892 degrees Celsius in outdoor field tests. The related results were published online on the 30th in the academic journal Engineering.

"It is like a 'solar furnace,' providing a new high-temperature heat source solution for future lunar base construction and in-situ resource utilization such as lunar soil melting," said Li Lifang, professor at Harbin Institute of Technology and head of the extraterrestrial environment physics and intelligent exploration team of the National Major Science and Technology Infrastructure. "For example, heating and melting lunar soil can not only be used to 'bake bricks' for building houses, but also to fabricate mechanical components."

According to the introduction, although traditional concentrating equipment can generate high temperatures, the concentrating efficiency drops significantly with even a slight angular deviation. This system is like putting a pair of "corrective glasses" on the concentrator, reducing deviation during light convergence and concentrating light into a very small area.

Experiments show that in an environment with an air temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, this device with a 300-millimeter aperture can increase solar irradiance by more than 500 times, with the focal point temperature stable above 800 degrees Celsius and peaking at 892 degrees Celsius. Based on theoretical calculations under the conditions of no atmosphere and strong irradiation on the lunar surface, researchers estimate that its focal point temperature could reach 1326 degrees Celsius, which is expected to meet the energy requirements for high-temperature processes such as melting lunar soil to make bricks.

Li Lifang introduced that using sunlight to "use local materials" and heating and melting lunar soil into building materials is one way to build houses on the Moon. Compared with traditional equipment, this new technology increases the tolerance range for receiving angle deviation by about one time, can actively adapt to the extreme lunar environment, and thereby reduces equipment manufacturing difficulty and transportation costs. The team will further carry out the development of lightweight prototypes and lunar soil melting experiments to promote the early lunar application of this technology.