Recycling enhanced additive manufacturing processes under Martian environmental conditions (RAMMEC)

In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is a reasonable approach for future exploration missions to build structures on Moon or Mars with on-site resources such as regolith or Sulfur. Such structures can be habitats for astronauts, landing pads or spare parts needed during such missions. The idea is to save payload by using the regolith for radiation shielding, protection against micrometeorite impacts or similar applications. The aim of this project was to develop an additive manufacturing setup capable of demonstrating the processing of Martian regolith simulant under ambient and simulated Martian environmental conditions (atmosphere composition and pressure at room temperature) and to produce a first set of material data, to prepare in-situ manufacturing capability for future exploration missions.