2025-2026
Grad Research:
Sintering Lunar Soil
Our investigation explored the effects of metal arcing during microwave sintering of lunar regolith simulant.
This timeline documents our progress from a NASA RASC-AL competition to our AIAA SciTech conference presentation in Orlando.
Our Team
Lead Author
Department of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Tech, CET
Department of Electrical Engineering Tech, CET
Department of Biomedical Engineering, KGCOE
Department of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Tech, CET
Abstract Accepted: AIAA SciTech 2026
AUG 25, 2025
Technical paper and presentation confirmed at Orlando conference for the Space Exploration category.
DATA SYSTEMS
- NI-DAQ Data Collection Module
- LabView Data Collection Portal
- Thermal Imaging Camera
- 3 Thermocouples Mounted with a Fixture
CHAMBER COMPONENTS
- Single-Mode Travelling-Wave Chamber
- Microwave Magnetron
- Microwave-Transparent Alumina Crucible
- Air Pump Cooling Setup
Presented Paper January 2026
You can read the technical paper for AIAA SciTech 2026 here:
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/6.2026-1860
'Lunar Tunnel Boring Machine (LTBM) - Lunar Habitation Excavation,'
...was presented in January 2026. This research explores metal-microwave interactions in lunar regolith simulant.
Active Projects and Future Work
Metal-arcing for rapid phase-transition melting would be desirable to yield structures quickly, but the nature of metal arcing would involve an impossible submerging setup on an actual LTBM.
Now we are looking at using susceptors (like the ones in popcorn bags and hot-pockets) to accelerate the heating rather than arcing.
If these tests generate sufficiently large samples to run a compression test, then future work will sinter a whole ring-segment for compression testing.
