Laser regolith sintering unit
A machine that sieves lunar soil and heats it with lasers, without fully melting it, to form hard blocks for reactor shielding and other structures.
Why it matters
NASA wants a fission reactor on the Moon around 2030, and shielding it with local material avoids launching tonnes of mass from Earth.
How the technology works
Regolith is filtered and sieved, then laser-heated until the grains fuse. Lab samples reached over 200 MPa compressive strength, with some at 345 MPa, according to the company.
A first solar- and battery-powered demo is planned for 2027 on an unnamed lander.
Sources
Updated Oct 22, 2026 · How we source facts · Suggest a correction