Yes, That’s a Lego Brick Made Out of Meteorite Dust

In the 5th Avenue Lego store successful Manhattan, successful the backmost toward the stairs going to the 2nd level, there’s a tiny grey ceramic spinning lethargically connected a bladed pedestal. According to the Danish brickmaker and European Space Agency, that Lego portion was crafted from meteorite dust. While you won’t spot astronauts going into abstraction to effort and physique the archetypal abstraction variation of Barad-Dûr, the bureau claims it’s a tiny trial to spot however good Moondust mightiness enactment for gathering mankind’s archetypal existent lunar structures.

You can’t bargain it, and the “Space Bricks” lone travel successful 1 color—“space gray”—but the stardust gathering artifact does look striking up adjacent with its unusual wavy lines and dusty quality you would ne'er spot connected a modern, pristine Lego piece. According to Lego and the ESA, the meteorite particulate was crushed disconnected an entity archetypal discovered successful 2000 successful northwestern Africa.

Each ceramic is not axenic meteorite. The 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite particulate was mixed with “a tiny amount” of thermoplastic polyester to fto the engineers signifier it similar a Lego piece. It was besides mixed with “some regolith simulant,” which successful this lawsuit is expected to mimic the benignant of particulate recovered connected the moon. The existent signifier was made with a 3D printer.

Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

So wherefore physique a ceramic retired of multi-billion-year-old abstraction dust? According to the ESA, it is to simulate however good this worldly does erstwhile making existent structures. No, aboriginal astronauts and abstraction engineers astir apt won’t commencement gathering the archetypal habitable domes connected the Moon with Lego bricks, but scientists person tried investigating the possibilities of space-based material. There’s, of course, lunarcrete which is simply a substance of the Moondust, oregon regolith, and concrete.

In the release, ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley is quoted saying that portion the ceramic does look acold rougher than your accepted Lego caltrop, “the clutch powerfulness inactive works, enabling america to play and trial our designs.” It’s bully to cognize a Space Brick has conscionable arsenic snug a acceptable arsenic your regular Lego piece.

One of the enduring difficulties of readying for Moon-based structures is bringing what could beryllium galore tons of worldly from the crushed into Earth’s orbit. NASA has outlined immoderate prospects for Moon-based maglev proscription systems, though that mightiness necessitate galore materials not recovered connected the lunar surface. Recent designs for lunar habitats person ranged from inflatable villages to Moon-based “mobile homes.”

Still, humanity is inching person to our archetypal existent lunar base module. That task founded betwixt NASA, the Italian Space Agency, and the Thales Alenia Space Corporation mightiness not go world until the 2030s astatine the earliest, and we’ll person to hold and spot what specified a task mightiness entail beyond aboriginal renderings. A abstraction basal is an important measurement for NASA’s Artemis program and its eventual “Moon to Mars” plan.

Want to spot a abstraction Lego successful person? You whitethorn besides beryllium fortunate capable to find 1 astatine your section Lego store. There are 15 shops successful full with a Space Brick, and astir are located successful large cities successful the U.S. We inactive don’t cognize if stepping connected a Space Brick hurts arsenic overmuch arsenic a regular Lego piece, but we suggest you don’t suffer immoderate successful the folds of your carpet, conscionable successful case.

If you’re truly jonesing for immoderate abstraction Legos, you mightiness besides privation to cheque retired the Lego Artemis Launch System which comes successful galore much colors than “space gray.”