(Credit: Lego)
Sure, you've seen Legos depicting space, but how about a Lego made out of a piece of it?
Lego recently partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA) to make Lego pieces from actual meteorite dust. The project is designed to see how astronauts could potentially build their own lunar structures out of moon dust rather than relying on materials flown in from Earth.
So, where does the meteorite come into play? The moon's surface is made up of a layer of rocks called lunar regolith. We don't have much of the stuff on Earth's surface; however, scientists created their own version by grinding up a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite. Lego then used the dust from that to make the bricks.
Beyond the whole meteorite thing, the blocks are very similar to the Legos you might have at home, although they're a bit rougher. The bricks also only come in one color: space gray.
Scientists 3D-printed the bricks using their meteorite-made regolith and are using them to test what space construction might look like in the future for things like launch pads or astronaut shelters.
"Nobody has built a structure on the Moon, so it was great to have the flexibility to try out all kinds of designs and building techniques with our space bricks," says ESA Science Officer Aidan Cowley. "It was both fun and useful in scientifically understanding the boundaries of these techniques."
While scientists will ultimately use the bricks, they're also temporarily on display at some Lego Stores around the world from now until Sept. 20.
"We recently found out that space remains an area of huge curiosity with 87% of Gen Alpha kids interested in discovering new planets, stars, and galaxies," says Daniel Meehan, Creative Lead at the Lego Group. "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, and we hope it encourages children to have a go at building their own space shelters!"
You can check the bricks out in person at these Lego Store locations:
USA
- Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota
- Disney Springs, Florida
- Water Tower Place, Chicago
- Disneyland Resort, California
- 5th Avenue, New York