MoonFibre · Fibres from Lunar Regolith

About MoonFibre

An in situ resource utilization technology aiming to produce fibres-based materials made of lunar regolith, directly on the Moon.

Jointly developed at RWTH Aachen University by the Institut für Textiltechnik and the Institute for Structural Mechanics and Lightweight Design.

Our mission is to reduce the cost and increase the sustainability of lunar settlements

MoonFibre spinning unit can be operated under space conditions.

With the iBOSS satellite as payload element, the transport of the spinning unit is space qualified.

Motivation

With the ISRU technology of MoonFibre we can save 70,000,000,000 €.

Launch costs due to payload weight is one of the main constraints on space missions. But using MoonFibre technology we could save it!

Fibre-based Materials

15 % of all materials are fibre-based

Payload Launch Costs

1,2 million €/kg to the Moon surface

The huge costs of payload transport from Earth

The reduction of transport costs materials have been estimated to sum up to €70 billion on the basis of the following assumptions:

15% of all its materials are fibre-based

A lunar station comparable to ISS weighs 450 ton

Payload transport to the Moon surface at the lowest price on the market today costs 1,2 million €/kg

Space colonization as the future of mankind's mission of space exploration

No space colonies have been built so far. Currently, the building of a space colony would present a set of huge technological and economic challenges. Space settlements would have to provide for nearly all (or all) the material needs of hundreds or thousands of humans, in an environment out in space that is very hostile to human life.

MoonFibre technology will provide resources

Space Exploration

Space settlements will need material

Applications

Wide range of applications and improved properties for gases, liquids and solids.

It is stronger than many metals by weight, is non-magnetic, non-conductive, transparent to electromagnetic radiation, can be molded into complex shapes, and is chemically inert under many circumstances.

Fibre-Reinforced Composites

MoonFibre can improve the strength of composite materials and add tensile reinforcement in all directions.

Thermal Insulation

MoonFibre nonwoven can be used as a non-combustible insulation material for heat, sound and fire protection.

Mineral Nonwoven Substrate

MoonFibre nonwoven can be used as an inert substrate suitable for both run-to-waste and recirculating systems.

Filter

Densely packed MoonFibres mat makes an ideal filter for filtering a wide range of liquids and gases.

Repair Textiles

Fabrics made of very elastic, hair-like glass fibres for technical purposes as well as protection clothing.

Automatization on Earth

MoonFibre technology can be applied on Earth for pioneering fully automated fiber production systems.

Projects

MoonFibre technology is being developed through multiple projects with different partners.

In order to achieve a wider reach, different projects are looking more closely at different areas of research.

INNOspace Masters

Spinning Facility Proof of Concept: Miniaturized, modular, robust & fully autonomous terrestrial fibre spinning facility.

The MoonFibre Team won the 3rd place of the DLR Challenge within the 2019 INNOspace Masters Competition.

The project starts in March of 2021 and it will last until 2023. It will serve as a proof of concept for the future developments of a MVP which will be tested on the lunar surface itself.

MoonFibre Study

Lunar Use-Cases of Fibre Resources: Systematic analysis of various ways to utilize fibre-based resources making future lunar settlement sustainable and cheaper.

This study presents the base for all future product development using MoonFibre. As there are numerous ways that these materials can be used, we are actively looking for partners that will cooperate with us on developing these use-cases.

It's funded by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

IGLUNA Student Experiment

As part of the IGLUNA programme, the AIX2SPACE student team in the 2021 edition and the AMPEX 20 team in the 2020 edition contribute to MoonFibre with a miniaturised spinning unit, capable of producing continuous mineral fibres from processable raw materials using the nozzle drawing process.

More information: AIX2SPACE AMPEX 20

REXUS Student Experiment

The ISRU MoonFibre EXperiment (IMFEX) student team contributes to MoonFibre with its research on spinning basalt fibres in a microgravity environment on board a sounding rocket, as part of the REXUS/BEXUS programme.

More information: Website Facebook

Team

Meet Our Experts

As we pave the road to the future, our highly qualified innovators are driving us every day. Meet some of the experts that makes MoonFibre work.

Dr. Alexander Niecke

Project director of MoonFibre, with several years of experience in the fibreglass industry and its research. He currently employs at the Institut für Textiltechnik of RWTH Aachen University.

alexander.niecke@ita.rwth-aachen.de

+49 241 80 23285