Lego has teamed up with the European Space Agency to test whether space materials could be used to build astronaut shelters on the Moon.

Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) have used their love of Lego brick building to design launch pads and shelters for astronauts visiting the Moon, as part of the Artemis programme.

To test whether space materials could be used to create structures, the ESA team 3D printed bricks that are similar to Lego with meteorite dust to see if they could still be used as a building block on small scale versions. The real structures will be built on the Moon, using materials found there.

The space material on the Moon is regolith, but there is only a very small sample available on Earth, collected from the Apollo mission. The ESA team turned to another very similar space material – meteorites – which they ground up into dust and mixed with a small amount of polylactide and regolith simulant. They used this to 3D print bricks similar to Lego.

The meteorite they used is approximately 4.5b years old and was originally discovered in northwest Africa in 2000, classed as a L3-6. It is a brecciated stone which has many different elements incorporated within it, such as large metal grains, inclusions, chondrules and other stone meteorite elements.

Talking about the project, ESA Science officer, Aidan Cowley, said: “No-one has ever built a structure on the moon, so we have to work out not only how we build them, but what we build them out of, as we can’t take any materials with us. My team and I love creative construction and had the idea to explore whether space dust could be formed into a brick similar to a Lego so we could test different building techniques. The result is amazing and whilst the bricks may look a little rougher than usual, importantly the clutch power still works, enabling us to play and test our designs.”

Daniel Meehan, Creative lead at The Lego Group, commented: “With the ESA team using the Lego System-in-Play to advance space travel, it shows kids the sky really is the limit when it comes to Lego brick building. We hope it encourages children to have a go at building their own space shelters.”

15 ESA Space Bricks will go on display in select Lego Stores globally to help encourage kids to find out more about space travel and be inspired to build their very own Moon shelters. The ESA Space Bricks will be on display in the Lego Store, Leicester Square from 24th June to 20th September. The bricks will also be on display across the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain and Australia, as well as the Lego House, in Billund, Denmark.

To find out more about the ESA Space Bricks and see the current range of Lego Space sets, click here.