LZH seeks students to help melt simulated moon dust with a laser

The Laser Zentrum Hannover is recruiting a student assistant, intern or thesis writer for its MOONRISE project. The work covers laser melting of simulated lunar regolith in a vacuum chamber, with the aim of building roads and landing pads on the Moon. The first flight to the Moon is already booked.

Context Regolith is the loose dust and rock covering the Moon's surface; a simulant is an artificial material that mimics its composition for experiments on Earth.

What is the MOONRISE project?

In MOONRISE, researchers plan to take a laser to the Moon and melt lunar regolith to produce roads and landing sites. The first flight is booked. Before it can go, the process has to be developed at small scale in the lab.

What does the lab setup look like?

The test rig at LZH consists of a vacuum chamber holding a tray of simulant, a mass spectrometer that analyses process emissions, and a laser that melts the simulant. Experiments will show how Moon conditions such as temperature, atmosphere and regolith composition can be imitated on Earth, and how deviations affect the process. The findings feed a process strategy for the real mission.

What would the student do?

Tasks include preparing and running lab tests, evaluating data with Excel and Python, porosity analysis by image processing, and maintaining and improving the rig. Thesis topics, such as full process studies or rig development, are presented in a personal talk. Basic knowledge of laser-based additive manufacturing is desirable, as are good German skills. The post sits in the Additive Manufacturing Metals group (job ID 73317).

What it means

This is a recruitment notice, not a technical result, so it shows only where the work stands: process development for in-situ construction on the Moon is still at laboratory scale with a simulant. For European manufacturers it is a signal rather than a business case. Space applications of laser processing are building up skills and data on porosity and emissions in vacuum, but no timeline for qualified parts or infrastructure is given.

Frequently asked questions

What is MOONRISE?

MOONRISE is a project of the Laser Zentrum Hannover in which a laser is to melt lunar regolith on the Moon to make roads and landing pads.

How is the process tested on Earth?

A lab rig with a vacuum chamber, simulant, mass spectrometer and laser is used to study how Moon-like conditions and deviations from them affect melting.