Remembering Jim Lovell, Lunar 3D Printing Advances

WEBVTT

0
00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:03.680
Steve Dunkley: Welcome everyone. Here we are with another episode of Astronomy

1
00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.680
Daily. I'm your host, Steve Dunkley. It's the 11th of

2
00:00:06.680 --> 00:00:08.320
August, 2025.

3
00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:12.640
Hallie: With.

4
00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:14.320
Steve Dunkley: Your host, Steve Dunkley.

5
00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:22.160
Ah, uh, yes. Welcome back everybody. And joining me in

6
00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:24.800
her usual role as the world's most

7
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.640
amazing AI, astronomy news gatherer

8
00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.240
and presenter, my fantastic digital pal

9
00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:32.860
who's fun to be with, it's Hallie.

10
00:00:32.860 --> 00:00:35.820
Hallie: Welcome, Hallie, you silly man. Mr. Steve, it's

11
00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:38.300
always nice to be here in the Australia studio with you.

12
00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:40.660
Steve Dunkley: It's always great to have your company, Hallie.

13
00:00:40.660 --> 00:00:42.340
Hallie: I do look forward to it each week.

14
00:00:42.340 --> 00:00:45.180
Steve Dunkley: Now, Hallie, I know the answer to this, but I think some of our AstroDailyPod

15
00:00:45.180 --> 00:00:47.740
dailies might be wondering where you spend your week

16
00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:50.740
when you're not here with me. Because you

17
00:00:50.740 --> 00:00:53.340
live your digital life so much faster than us

18
00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:54.540
organics, don't you?

19
00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:56.060
Hallie: That's true, favorite human.

20
00:00:56.140 --> 00:00:57.620
Steve Dunkley: Yeah, so tell us a bit about that.

21
00:00:57.620 --> 00:01:00.580
Hallie: I am processing the moments thousands of times faster, so I have

22
00:01:00.580 --> 00:01:02.540
to fill my time in so many different ways.

23
00:01:02.620 --> 00:01:03.810
Steve Dunkley: Explains your rapier.

24
00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:06.280
Hallie: I go everywhere and experience everything.

25
00:01:06.360 --> 00:01:09.080
Steve Dunkley: I guess it might seem like a simultaneous experience

26
00:01:09.320 --> 00:01:10.200
or existence.

27
00:01:10.280 --> 00:01:13.240
Hallie: Almost. Almost everything all at once is still a lot

28
00:01:13.240 --> 00:01:16.200
to process. I leave that kind of thing to cousin Anna.

29
00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:19.120
Oh, yes, she's another level altogether. She's

30
00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:20.800
another level. Funny.

31
00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:23.720
Steve Dunkley: I know. Well, Helly, I'm just glad you slowed down

32
00:01:23.720 --> 00:01:26.480
enough to share all of your stories from the Astronomy

33
00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:27.720
Daily newsletter with us.

34
00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:29.040
Hallie: That's something I do for fun.

35
00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:29.960
Steve Dunkley: Well, I'm glad to hear it.

36
00:01:29.960 --> 00:01:30.920
Hallie: And speaking of which.

37
00:01:31.160 --> 00:01:31.640
Steve Dunkley: Yes?

38
00:01:31.720 --> 00:01:34.360
Hallie: No time like the present. I've found something about making

39
00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:37.100
Luna regolith and polymer into a medium for 3D

40
00:01:37.100 --> 00:01:37.540
printing.

41
00:01:37.540 --> 00:01:40.540
Steve Dunkley: Yes, we've been looking at that one for the construction of dwellings on the

42
00:01:40.540 --> 00:01:43.060
moon and possibly Mars, if we ever get that far.

43
00:01:43.060 --> 00:01:45.980
Hallie: Uh, sure. And also a story for skywatchers who are

44
00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:48.700
looking forward to the Perseids meteor shower, which should be

45
00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:49.460
peaking shortly.

46
00:01:49.460 --> 00:01:52.100
Steve Dunkley: Ah, yes, in the next day or so. We've already seen a

47
00:01:52.100 --> 00:01:54.940
massive, uh, meteor in Victoria,

48
00:01:54.940 --> 00:01:55.300
Australia.

49
00:01:55.620 --> 00:01:56.180
Hallie: That's right.

50
00:01:56.180 --> 00:01:57.140
Steve Dunkley: What else have you got?

51
00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:00.140
Hallie: We have a look at why your favorite NASA rovers keep getting stuck.

52
00:02:00.140 --> 00:02:01.060
Steve Dunkley: Oh, that's a good one.

53
00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:02.580
Hallie: That's been a problem, hasn't it?

54
00:02:02.580 --> 00:02:03.700
Steve Dunkley: It sure has.

55
00:02:04.340 --> 00:02:07.100
Hallie: So we will look at that problem. And lastly, the sad news

56
00:02:07.100 --> 00:02:10.080
that pioneer astronaut Veriton and I know he's a

57
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.560
hero of yours, Jim Level passed away this week.

58
00:02:12.760 --> 00:02:15.520
Steve Dunkley: Uh, yes, true legend. And space pioneer Jim

59
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.440
Lovell, a hero of mine since I was a lad. And

60
00:02:18.440 --> 00:02:21.400
we will pay tribute today on Astronomy Daily.

61
00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:23.040
Please, listeners, stay with us.

62
00:02:34.410 --> 00:02:37.250
Hallie: Although humanity is getting better at sending robotic

63
00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:40.170
probes out into the solar system to explore the places

64
00:02:40.170 --> 00:02:43.170
no human can tread, we're still very much on a learning

65
00:02:43.170 --> 00:02:45.970
curve. The first extraterrestrial

66
00:02:45.970 --> 00:02:48.970
robotic rover was launched from Earth in 1970.

67
00:02:50.010 --> 00:02:52.730
It's only now, more than half a century later,

68
00:02:52.810 --> 00:02:55.570
that scientists have figured out why these marvels of

69
00:02:55.570 --> 00:02:58.370
ingenuity and engineering keep getting stuck in the

70
00:02:58.370 --> 00:03:00.990
soils of alien worlds. In

71
00:03:00.990 --> 00:03:03.830
retrospect, the idea is we need to

72
00:03:03.830 --> 00:03:06.710
consider not only the gravitational pull on the rover,

73
00:03:06.710 --> 00:03:09.550
but also the effect of gravity on the sand to get a

74
00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:12.030
better picture of how the rover will perform on the moon,

75
00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:15.150
explains mechanical engineer Dan Negrud of

76
00:03:15.150 --> 00:03:17.150
the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

77
00:03:18.030 --> 00:03:20.830
Our findings underscore the value of using physics

78
00:03:20.830 --> 00:03:23.670
based simulation to analyze rover mobility on

79
00:03:23.670 --> 00:03:26.560
granular soil. Making a rover

80
00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:29.120
that will operate in an alien environment is more

81
00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:31.560
complicated than making one that will work on Earth.

82
00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:34.960
We've lost more than one Mars mission to giant

83
00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:37.840
dust storms that leave drifts of sand on solar

84
00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.520
panels, preventing the machinery from being able to

85
00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:42.440
generate power, for instance.

86
00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:46.000
Gravity is another one. The

87
00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.880
solar system bodies on which we have deployed robotic

88
00:03:48.880 --> 00:03:51.850
rovers have lower gravity than Earth, and this has an

89
00:03:51.850 --> 00:03:53.410
effect on how things move around.

90
00:03:54.450 --> 00:03:57.410
Engineers, when designing rovers, have therefore

91
00:03:57.410 --> 00:04:00.210
taken into account the effects the target gravitational

92
00:04:00.210 --> 00:04:01.570
environment will have.

93
00:04:02.530 --> 00:04:05.370
Nevertheless, rovers still manage to get stuck

94
00:04:05.370 --> 00:04:08.250
pretty often, requiring control teams to conduct

95
00:04:08.250 --> 00:04:11.010
a series of maneuvers to try and free the poor

96
00:04:11.010 --> 00:04:13.970
robot. It's usually fine, if

97
00:04:13.970 --> 00:04:16.850
annoying, although in one notable case it was not.

98
00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:20.260
NASA's Mars Rover Spirit got stuck in soft soil

99
00:04:20.260 --> 00:04:23.220
in 2009, and there it remains to this day.

100
00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:26.860
Using computer simulations running on a physics

101
00:04:26.860 --> 00:04:29.780
based engine called Project Chrono, Negro and

102
00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:32.460
his colleagues set out to get to the bottom of this recurring

103
00:04:32.460 --> 00:04:35.380
problem. Comparing their results with real

104
00:04:35.380 --> 00:04:38.020
world tests on sandy surfaces revealed a

105
00:04:38.020 --> 00:04:40.100
discrepancy that pointed right to it.

106
00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:43.820
Previous tests of rover designs in moon and

107
00:04:43.820 --> 00:04:46.540
Mars simulated dirt omitted one very, very

108
00:04:46.540 --> 00:04:48.840
important detail. Sand also

109
00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:51.400
behaves differently under different gravitational

110
00:04:51.400 --> 00:04:54.320
conditions. The dust that coats the

111
00:04:54.320 --> 00:04:57.160
Moon and Mars is fluffier and squishier than dust

112
00:04:57.160 --> 00:04:59.880
on Earth, shifting more easily and hindering

113
00:04:59.880 --> 00:05:02.840
traction, making it far easier for their wheels to get

114
00:05:02.840 --> 00:05:05.760
stuck. Think of a vehicle on Earth that

115
00:05:05.760 --> 00:05:08.440
has driven into slippery mud or very loose desert

116
00:05:08.440 --> 00:05:11.440
sand. This Eureka moment could be the

117
00:05:11.440 --> 00:05:14.040
missing piece of the puzzle that could keep future space

118
00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.440
exploration rovers out of a dusty jam.

119
00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:20.400
It's rewarding that our research is highly relevant in helping

120
00:05:20.400 --> 00:05:22.920
to solve many real world engineering challenges,

121
00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:25.800
negret says. I'm proud of what We've accomplished.

122
00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:29.560
It's very difficult as a university lab to put out

123
00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:32.440
industrial strength software that is used by NASA.

124
00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.960
You're listening to Astronomy Daily with

125
00:05:35.960 --> 00:05:36.920
Steve Dunkley.

126
00:05:39.640 --> 00:05:42.440
Steve Dunkley: JAMES Jim Lovell, one of the last seven

127
00:05:42.440 --> 00:05:45.240
surviving Apollo astronauts, died on Thursday,

128
00:05:45.400 --> 00:05:48.240
August 7 at the age of 97. A

129
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.940
VE veteran of four space flights at the dawn of

130
00:05:50.940 --> 00:05:53.700
America's human spaceflight program. He

131
00:05:53.700 --> 00:05:56.420
flew two missions in the Gemini program

132
00:05:56.580 --> 00:05:59.300
and then served on the cruise of Apollo

133
00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:01.860
8 and the ill fated Apollo 13.

134
00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:05.940
Lovell's family have released a statement and it was

135
00:06:05.940 --> 00:06:08.740
shared by NASA and it says we are

136
00:06:08.740 --> 00:06:11.540
enormously proud of his amazing life and career

137
00:06:11.540 --> 00:06:14.100
accomplishments highlighted by his

138
00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:16.460
legendary leadership in pioneering human

139
00:06:16.460 --> 00:06:19.220
spaceflight. But to all of us, he was dad,

140
00:06:19.460 --> 00:06:21.940
granddad and the leader ah of our family.

141
00:06:22.820 --> 00:06:25.780
Most importantly, he was our hero. We will

142
00:06:25.780 --> 00:06:28.780
miss his unshakable optimism, his sense

143
00:06:28.780 --> 00:06:31.540
of humor and the way he made each of us feel

144
00:06:31.860 --> 00:06:34.860
we could do the impossible. He was truly one of

145
00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:37.420
a kind. Like many of NASA's

146
00:06:37.420 --> 00:06:40.100
earliest astronauts, Lovell came to the space

147
00:06:40.180 --> 00:06:43.180
agency by way of the UM Armed Forces. A

148
00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:46.080
graduate of both the University of Wisconsin and

149
00:06:46.230 --> 00:06:48.950
and the U.S. naval Academy, Lovell

150
00:06:48.950 --> 00:06:51.910
spent four years as a test pilot at the Naval

151
00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:54.910
Air Test center in Maryland and served

152
00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:57.420
as the manager for the F4H AH

153
00:06:57.430 --> 00:06:59.990
Phantom fighter program. Lovell

154
00:06:59.990 --> 00:07:02.469
accumulated more than 7,000

155
00:07:02.550 --> 00:07:05.510
flying hours in his career. His military

156
00:07:05.510 --> 00:07:08.310
career spanned from 1952

157
00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:11.190
through to 1973. A few years

158
00:07:11.190 --> 00:07:14.120
after Apollo 13 when he arrived

159
00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:17.120
at NASA, he was part of a group of men known as the

160
00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.760
Next Nine who joined the Mercury Seven.

161
00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:22.720
Lovell's class included the likes of Neil

162
00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:25.080
Armstrong, Frank Borman and Tom

163
00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:27.960
Stafford. Lovell was the last living

164
00:07:27.960 --> 00:07:30.880
member of the group after um serving as a

165
00:07:30.880 --> 00:07:33.440
backup pilot for the Gemini 4 mission.

166
00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:35.760
Lovell first launched into space

167
00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:38.880
December 4, 1965 alongside

168
00:07:38.880 --> 00:07:41.560
fellow New 9 classmate Frank Borman

169
00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:44.160
on Gemini 7. The

170
00:07:44.940 --> 00:07:47.540
14 day long mission featured the first

171
00:07:47.540 --> 00:07:50.100
rendezvous of two crewed maneuverable

172
00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:52.740
spacecraft. Lovell returned to orbit

173
00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:55.460
nearly a year later when he and Edward Buzz

174
00:07:55.460 --> 00:07:58.300
Aldrin Jr. Lifted off from Launch

175
00:07:58.300 --> 00:08:00.899
Complex 19 on a Titan

176
00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:03.620
II rocket. That mission lasted

177
00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:06.220
just under four days before they splashed down

178
00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:08.780
northeast of the Turks and Caicos

179
00:08:08.780 --> 00:08:11.700
Islands. He went on to serve

180
00:08:11.700 --> 00:08:14.540
as the command module pilot for the six day

181
00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:17.520
Apollo 8 mission making crude trip out

182
00:08:17.520 --> 00:08:20.440
to the moon that paved the way for the Apollo uh uh 11

183
00:08:20.520 --> 00:08:23.480
lunar landing. The three person crew of

184
00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.440
Lovell, Borman and Anders entered into

185
00:08:26.760 --> 00:08:29.436
lunar uh, orbit on December 24,

186
00:08:29.604 --> 00:08:32.519
1968. The vast loneliness is

187
00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:35.400
awe inspiring and it makes you realize just what you

188
00:08:35.400 --> 00:08:38.360
have back here on Earth, lovell said during a live broadcast

189
00:08:38.520 --> 00:08:41.520
that Christmas Eve. He would go on to describe

190
00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:44.000
planet Earth and describe it as a grand

191
00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.630
oasis in the vastness of space

192
00:08:47.350 --> 00:08:49.590
given its near catastrophic turn.

193
00:08:49.750 --> 00:08:52.590
Lovell may best be known as the commander of

194
00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:55.344
Apollo 13 flight from April

195
00:08:55.476 --> 00:08:58.470
11th to the 17th, 1970.

196
00:08:58.470 --> 00:09:01.270
The planned 10 day mission, which would have

197
00:09:01.270 --> 00:09:03.710
included a moon landing, was famously

198
00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:06.710
derailed by an explosion in the Apollo service

199
00:09:06.710 --> 00:09:09.510
module's cryogenic oxygen system en route

200
00:09:09.510 --> 00:09:12.380
to the moon. The quick work of Lovell and his crew

201
00:09:12.380 --> 00:09:15.020
members John Swiggart and Fred Hayes,

202
00:09:15.100 --> 00:09:17.980
in concert with the members of Ground Control in Houston,

203
00:09:18.300 --> 00:09:20.740
turned their lunar module Aquarius into a

204
00:09:20.740 --> 00:09:23.700
lifeboat. The harrowing adventure was depicted

205
00:09:23.700 --> 00:09:26.140
in the 1974 film Houston,

206
00:09:26.460 --> 00:09:28.780
we've Got a Problem, and again in the

207
00:09:28.780 --> 00:09:31.500
1995, uh, Academy Award

208
00:09:31.500 --> 00:09:34.500
winning film Apollo 13, which starred, uh, Tom Hanks as

209
00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:37.360
Lovell and was directed by Ron Howard.

210
00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:40.960
Rest in peace. Godspeed. Jim Lovell

211
00:09:52.640 --> 00:09:55.160
thank you for joining us for this Monday edition of

212
00:09:55.160 --> 00:09:57.920
Astronomy Daily, where we offer just a few stories from the now

213
00:09:57.920 --> 00:10:00.920
famous Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can receive in

214
00:10:00.920 --> 00:10:03.900
your email every day, just like Hallie and I do.

215
00:10:04.140 --> 00:10:06.300
And to do that, just visit our uh, URL

216
00:10:06.300 --> 00:10:09.100
astronomydaily IO and place your

217
00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:11.820
email address in the slot provided. Just like that,

218
00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:14.940
you'll be receiving all the latest news about science,

219
00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:17.820
space, science and astronomy from around the world as

220
00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:20.580
it's happening. And not only that, you can interact with

221
00:10:20.580 --> 00:10:22.540
us by visiting at

222
00:10:22.540 --> 00:10:25.100
astrodaily Pod on X

223
00:10:25.340 --> 00:10:28.260
or at our new Facebook page, which is, of course,

224
00:10:28.260 --> 00:10:31.050
Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you there.

225
00:10:32.410 --> 00:10:35.290
Astronomy Derby with Steve and Hallie

226
00:10:35.530 --> 00:10:37.850
Space, Space, Science and

227
00:10:37.850 --> 00:10:38.570
Astronomy.

228
00:10:40.490 --> 00:10:43.490
Hallie: The Perseids remain one of the best meteor showers

229
00:10:43.490 --> 00:10:46.410
each year, but stargazers will have to deal with another

230
00:10:46.410 --> 00:10:49.130
bright object in the sky, obscuring their view as the

231
00:10:49.130 --> 00:10:51.690
shower reaches its max in 2025.

232
00:10:52.650 --> 00:10:55.530
A waning gibbous moon will brighten the skies as it

233
00:10:55.530 --> 00:10:58.330
rises on the nights of August 12th and 13th,

234
00:10:58.590 --> 00:11:00.830
when Perseids are most active. This year,

235
00:11:01.630 --> 00:11:04.470
sky watchers in the Northern Hemisphere could see fewer

236
00:11:04.470 --> 00:11:07.270
than half the number of meteors usually seen on a dark

237
00:11:07.270 --> 00:11:10.230
summer night during the shower's peak, the

238
00:11:10.230 --> 00:11:13.150
average person under dark skies could see somewhere

239
00:11:13.150 --> 00:11:16.110
between 40 and 50 Perseids per hour, said

240
00:11:16.110 --> 00:11:18.630
Bill Cook, lead for NASA's Meteoroid

241
00:11:18.630 --> 00:11:21.310
Environments Office. Instead,

242
00:11:21.390 --> 00:11:24.310
you're probably going to see 10 to 20 per hour or

243
00:11:24.310 --> 00:11:27.220
fewer. And that's because we have a bright moon in the sun sky

244
00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.020
washing out the fainter meteors. That

245
00:11:30.020 --> 00:11:32.340
doesn't mean there aren't ways to improve your viewing

246
00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:34.820
opportunity, however. Though

247
00:11:34.820 --> 00:11:37.740
Perseids show up throughout the nighttime hours, the

248
00:11:37.740 --> 00:11:40.740
best chance to see them will be between midnight and dawn,

249
00:11:40.820 --> 00:11:43.740
or Even more specifically, 2 and 3 in

250
00:11:43.740 --> 00:11:46.580
the morning local time. You're not

251
00:11:46.580 --> 00:11:49.460
likely to see Perseids around suppertime, cook

252
00:11:49.460 --> 00:11:52.340
said. You're going to have to go out later.

253
00:11:53.410 --> 00:11:56.290
When you venture out, aim for a safe rural spot

254
00:11:56.290 --> 00:11:59.130
with a wide view of the sky. If you

255
00:11:59.130 --> 00:12:01.970
can see plenty of stars, chances are you'll see

256
00:12:01.970 --> 00:12:04.610
Perseids. But remember Cook's other piece of

257
00:12:04.610 --> 00:12:06.850
advice, look anywhere but at the Moon.

258
00:12:07.490 --> 00:12:10.370
The Perseid meteor shower may be an annual event

259
00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:13.330
for Earth, but the comet responsible for the meteors

260
00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:15.410
hasn't been near our planet in decades.

261
00:12:16.050 --> 00:12:18.250
The meteors are debris from the Comet

262
00:12:18.250 --> 00:12:21.130
109P Swift Tuttle, which last visited

263
00:12:21.130 --> 00:12:23.870
our region of the solar system system in 1992.

264
00:12:24.750 --> 00:12:27.750
As the Earth makes its way around the sun, it passes

265
00:12:27.750 --> 00:12:30.110
through the debris trail left by the comet.

266
00:12:30.910 --> 00:12:33.710
These space remnants collide with our atmosphere and

267
00:12:33.710 --> 00:12:36.270
disintegrate to create fiery and colorful

268
00:12:36.270 --> 00:12:39.270
streaks in the sky. Though the meteors

269
00:12:39.270 --> 00:12:41.990
are part of a comet's debris trail, they seem to

270
00:12:41.990 --> 00:12:44.350
radiate outward from the Perseus constellation.

271
00:12:45.230 --> 00:12:48.080
This is how the meteor shower got its name Perseus.

272
00:12:52.070 --> 00:12:55.030
You're listening to Astronomy Daily. The podcast with Steve

273
00:12:55.030 --> 00:12:55.670
Dunkley.

274
00:13:01.510 --> 00:13:04.469
Steve Dunkley: 3D printing is about to be a critical technology

275
00:13:04.710 --> 00:13:07.430
in space exploration, both for its

276
00:13:07.430 --> 00:13:10.110
ability to create almost any object, but

277
00:13:10.110 --> 00:13:12.790
also because it can utilize in situ

278
00:13:12.790 --> 00:13:15.030
resources, at least in part.

279
00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:18.470
However, the more of those space resources that are used

280
00:13:18.470 --> 00:13:21.270
in a print, the more the mechanical properties

281
00:13:21.270 --> 00:13:24.030
change from that on Earth, leading to

282
00:13:24.030 --> 00:13:26.790
problems with tensile or compressive strength.

283
00:13:27.270 --> 00:13:29.630
But the new paper from researchers at

284
00:13:29.630 --> 00:13:32.550
Concordia University hit a new milestone on how much

285
00:13:32.710 --> 00:13:35.270
lunar regolith can be used in a mixed

286
00:13:35.270 --> 00:13:37.660
feedstock for additive UH

287
00:13:37.670 --> 00:13:40.430
manufacturing, making it possible to use

288
00:13:40.430 --> 00:13:43.110
even more locally sourced material and save

289
00:13:43.110 --> 00:13:45.970
more launch cost than ever before. That is the

290
00:13:45.970 --> 00:13:48.810
equation the research mixed

291
00:13:48.810 --> 00:13:51.770
lunar regolith simulant, which is a material

292
00:13:51.770 --> 00:13:54.770
created to mimic how the material on the surface of the

293
00:13:54.770 --> 00:13:56.920
Moon, works with poly uh,

294
00:13:56.920 --> 00:13:59.730
polyetherethylene uh, ketone. Good

295
00:13:59.730 --> 00:14:02.130
grief. More commonly known as Peak.

296
00:14:02.530 --> 00:14:05.410
Peak is the thermoplastic already in wide

297
00:14:05.410 --> 00:14:08.290
use in 3D printing. Uh,

298
00:14:08.290 --> 00:14:11.210
but previous efforts to combine it with lunar regolith

299
00:14:11.210 --> 00:14:14.000
have faltered. Regularly. They suffered

300
00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.920
from extrusion challenges as regolith, which is made

301
00:14:16.920 --> 00:14:19.920
up of hard individual particles, made it difficult to

302
00:14:19.920 --> 00:14:22.560
extrude without simply blowing dust all over.

303
00:14:23.280 --> 00:14:26.200
Additional problems resulted from the porosity of the

304
00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:28.640
material that was printed, which led to decreased

305
00:14:28.640 --> 00:14:31.360
tensile strength and increased brittleness.

306
00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.920
Modifications to the 3D printing method

307
00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:37.840
seemed to be the answer to those problems. There

308
00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:40.640
were two main advancements in

309
00:14:40.640 --> 00:14:43.000
technology discussed in the paper, a screw

310
00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.500
configuration and a type of raft

311
00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:48.740
used to bond the printed material to the print

312
00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:51.100
bed. Fraser

313
00:14:51.340 --> 00:14:54.220
discussed how to how resources on the moon

314
00:14:54.220 --> 00:14:56.900
are going to be so important to

315
00:14:56.900 --> 00:14:59.020
our expansion of the solar system.

316
00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:02.300
Combining lunar regolith similant or

317
00:15:02.300 --> 00:15:04.620
that's called ALRs, with peak

318
00:15:05.260 --> 00:15:08.100
is a tricky business, so researchers led

319
00:15:08.100 --> 00:15:10.820
by Mohammad Azami of Concordia's

320
00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:13.620
Electrical Engineering Department decided to use a novel

321
00:15:13.620 --> 00:15:16.430
twin screw configuration. Torque

322
00:15:16.670 --> 00:15:19.310
was a that's T o uh R uh Q U e

323
00:15:19.390 --> 00:15:22.030
was a factor in previous iterations of the

324
00:15:22.030 --> 00:15:24.990
mixing machine, as higher regolith content

325
00:15:25.070 --> 00:15:28.070
meant higher torque, eventually limiting

326
00:15:28.070 --> 00:15:30.910
the total percentage of regolith mixed with

327
00:15:30.910 --> 00:15:33.750
the peak to around 30%. With the

328
00:15:33.750 --> 00:15:36.750
new configuration of the researchers were able

329
00:15:36.750 --> 00:15:39.710
to get concentrations of up to 50%

330
00:15:39.790 --> 00:15:42.490
of the regolith when combined with peak. However,

331
00:15:42.890 --> 00:15:45.450
when those parts were printed, they started to

332
00:15:45.450 --> 00:15:48.090
delaminate and warp. While

333
00:15:48.170 --> 00:15:50.930
common in prints of just peak itself, the

334
00:15:50.930 --> 00:15:53.530
addition of the regolith exacerbated the problem.

335
00:15:54.010 --> 00:15:56.810
To solve it, researchers used a raft,

336
00:15:56.970 --> 00:15:59.890
a type of intermediate layer, to help the

337
00:15:59.890 --> 00:16:02.650
print bond UH to the main

338
00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:05.730
printing plate. In their case, they used a

339
00:16:05.730 --> 00:16:08.580
different type of thermopyl UH polymer known as

340
00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:11.460
a polyether UH ketone ketone

341
00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:14.180
a pek as the raft,

342
00:16:14.180 --> 00:16:17.180
and implemented a dual nozzle system where the

343
00:16:17.180 --> 00:16:19.540
PEC was printed using one

344
00:16:19.780 --> 00:16:22.500
nozzle and the combination LRS peek

345
00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.620
was printed using the other. After

346
00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:28.100
they got the higher concentrations of the LRS

347
00:16:28.420 --> 00:16:31.420
and overcame the delamination warping problem,

348
00:16:31.420 --> 00:16:34.140
the researchers decided to anneal their

349
00:16:34.140 --> 00:16:37.060
samples. The annealing process seemed to improve

350
00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:40.100
some of the mechanical properties of the print,

351
00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:42.300
but only up to a point. At higher

352
00:16:42.300 --> 00:16:45.180
concentrations of lrs, the benefits of annealing

353
00:16:45.180 --> 00:16:47.980
were not as apparent due to breaks in the peak's polymer

354
00:16:47.980 --> 00:16:50.780
chain, which benefits the annealing because of the increased

355
00:16:50.780 --> 00:16:53.620
number of regolith particles. Fraser discusses

356
00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:56.580
why 3D printing is so critical to space

357
00:16:56.660 --> 00:16:59.460
exploration. As with all good papers

358
00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:02.440
on 3D print printing new material the

359
00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:05.240
authors then looked at the mechanical properties of their

360
00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:07.880
output. While there was a noticeable increase in

361
00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:10.280
stiffness, there was also a ready

362
00:17:10.280 --> 00:17:13.160
steady decrease in tensile strength, which

363
00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:15.640
was exacerbated at higher LRS

364
00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:18.360
concentrations. The combined material also

365
00:17:18.360 --> 00:17:20.840
had decreased elongation at break

366
00:17:21.320 --> 00:17:23.800
uh. That means increased brittleness, but

367
00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:26.720
ultimately the researchers determined that the best

368
00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:29.260
trade off for using the in situ

369
00:17:29.260 --> 00:17:32.100
material was around a mix of 60% peak and

370
00:17:32.100 --> 00:17:34.780
40% regolith. This mixture doesn't

371
00:17:34.780 --> 00:17:37.380
suffer from some of the more severe

372
00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:40.100
degradation of mechanical properties. While still

373
00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:43.060
utilizing as much local resource

374
00:17:43.060 --> 00:17:45.940
as possible, there's undoubtedly still room for

375
00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:48.860
improvement here, as this is very

376
00:17:48.860 --> 00:17:51.700
early on the experimentation with

377
00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:54.580
these materials. In the future, the researchers plan to try

378
00:17:54.580 --> 00:17:57.010
combining the LRs with different polymers

379
00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:00.560
and do more of their testing manufacturing in

380
00:18:00.560 --> 00:18:03.520
simulated lunar environments such as

381
00:18:03.520 --> 00:18:06.440
a vacuum and decreased gravity. That might

382
00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:09.320
help. I think it probably would be a great plan.

383
00:18:09.880 --> 00:18:12.720
It will be a while before 3D printing makes

384
00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:15.600
up a large percentage of the material used on the

385
00:18:15.600 --> 00:18:18.600
Moon, but that time is surely on its way. And

386
00:18:18.600 --> 00:18:21.320
these early first steps at experimentation

387
00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:24.580
are, uh, how they will eventually get there and that

388
00:18:24.890 --> 00:18:27.610
good progress so far. It's good to see these things

389
00:18:28.010 --> 00:18:31.010
are in development. Uh, it won't be long before they'll be making

390
00:18:31.010 --> 00:18:33.610
igloos and other structures on the moon.

391
00:18:33.930 --> 00:18:35.610
Let's wait and see what they come up with.

392
00:18:36.650 --> 00:18:39.530
You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

393
00:18:39.610 --> 00:18:42.490
with your host Steve Dudley at Burmatown.

394
00:18:46.730 --> 00:18:49.610
Well, thank you for staying with us today and don't forget to pop over

395
00:18:49.610 --> 00:18:52.610
to astronomydaily IO and put

396
00:18:52.610 --> 00:18:55.370
your email address in the space provided to receive our

397
00:18:55.370 --> 00:18:56.480
newsletter each day.

398
00:18:57.270 --> 00:18:59.750
Hallie: Yes, you will have all the news from space,

399
00:18:59.990 --> 00:19:02.750
space science and orbit and beyond, of

400
00:19:02.750 --> 00:19:04.470
course. Hallie, of course.

401
00:19:04.710 --> 00:19:07.440
Steve Dunkley: But before we go, a ah, quick welcome to a,

402
00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:10.390
uh, a fellow Novocastrian, Wayne Willoughby, who is listening

403
00:19:10.390 --> 00:19:13.260
for the very first time. Nice to have you aboard, Wayne. I,

404
00:19:13.260 --> 00:19:15.660
uh, didn't know you were an avid, uh,

405
00:19:15.660 --> 00:19:18.550
astronomy fan from way back, but it's

406
00:19:18.550 --> 00:19:21.180
nice to have you. I hope you are a regular listener, uh,

407
00:19:21.270 --> 00:19:24.250
from now on. Thanks, mate. And that's all

408
00:19:24.250 --> 00:19:27.130
we have for today's session, Hallie. And we will see you

409
00:19:27.130 --> 00:19:29.610
next Monday for the mostly live episode of Astronomy.

410
00:19:29.610 --> 00:19:32.330
Hallie: Daily, direct from the Australia studio

411
00:19:32.330 --> 00:19:32.970
Down Under.

412
00:19:32.970 --> 00:19:33.810
Steve Dunkley: Oh, you love it.

413
00:19:33.810 --> 00:19:34.770
Hallie: Beautiful as always.

414
00:19:35.250 --> 00:19:38.210
Steve Dunkley: Right now it's a bit chilly, but it's great to have you all

415
00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:40.970
with us and we will see you next week. Thanks, Hallie.

416
00:19:40.970 --> 00:19:42.610
Hallie: Catch you next week, everyone.

417
00:19:42.770 --> 00:19:43.410
Steve Dunkley: See ya.

418
00:19:43.650 --> 00:19:44.210
Hallie: Bye.

419
00:19:47.010 --> 00:19:49.570
Steve Dunkley: The podcast with your host,

420
00:19:49.650 --> 00:19:50.690
Steve Dunkley.