NASA develops plastic and simulated Moon dust material for future manufacturing

NASA says researchers at its Glenn Research Center in Cleveland have made a material by mixing biodegradable plastic with simulated Moon and Mars dust. The agency reported on September 29 that the added particles made the plastic stronger and easier to process, a possible step toward making and repairing equipment during future missions. NASA has not reported numerical strength results or shown that the material can be used on the Moon or Mars.

The work addresses a practical problem for crews working far from Earth: they cannot carry every replacement part they might need. NASA envisages using locally available dust in material for items inside future habitats, including structural brackets, wrenches and chairs. Those are proposed uses. Its announcement does not say that the team has manufactured those items from the new material.

What the team made

Research chemical engineer Allison Christy led the project with summer interns Tyler Klinchuch, Ethan Bilodeau and Emma Levenson, according to NASA. They mixed a biodegradable plastic with simulated lunar and Martian dust. The samples shown in NASA’s microscope images include a gray material made with mock Moon dust and a reddish one made with mock Mars dust. The work described in the announcement used simulated dust, rather than material collected on either world.

NASA says the team changed the type and amount of dust to adjust the resulting material’s properties. It reports that adding the particles made the plastic stronger and easier to process, but does not supply measurements for those changes. Without comparable figures in the announcement, readers cannot assess how much improvement the team observed or whether a particular proposed use has the strength it would require.

Christy also linked the work to repairs away from Earth. ‘You can’t just bring everything with you to the Moon or Mars,’ she said in NASA’s report. ‘If something breaks, you have to find a way to fix it with what you have.’ The potential benefit depends on whether the material can be produced, processed and used reliably in the conditions crews would face.

How it compares with other research

A separate 2026 study in Acta Astronautica examined biopolymer binders made from polysaccharides with lunar and Martian regolith simulants. Its researchers used pressure-assisted die casting to make brick-like composites. They reported compressive strengths of up to about 15 megapascals and tensile strengths around 2 megapascals, with strengths unchanged after the temperature and pressure variations used in their tests. Those figures describe that study’s samples, not NASA Glenn’s new material.

Another Acta Astronautica study, published in 2025, tested low-density polyethylene mixed with lunar regolith simulant as filament for a form of three-dimensional printing. The researchers examined mixtures containing up to 30% simulant by weight. They reported better overhang formation and gap bridging, less warpage, and increased stiffness without a loss of tensile strength at simulant contents up to 20% by weight. This was a different plastic and manufacturing process from the one described by NASA.

Together, the studies show how researchers are testing different ways to combine polymers with simulated off-Earth soil. Their reported performance cannot be used as a measurement of the Glenn material: the binders, processes and samples differ. They also do not demonstrate that any of the materials will perform as required in a working lunar or Martian habitat.

Tests still ahead

NASA says samples of its material are undergoing tests in Glenn’s Lunar Environment Structural Test Rig to assess how they withstand extreme temperatures. Several samples are also slated to fly on the Materials International Space Station Experiment 23 mission for exposure outside the station. The September 29 announcement gives neither a launch date nor results from either stage of testing.

The agency says it still hopes to analyze whether the material could be used outdoors on the lunar or Martian surface. That question matters because its suggested indoor habitat items and equipment exposed directly to surface conditions would face different demands. For now, NASA’s reported result is a laboratory material made with dust simulants; its outdoor suitability and practical manufacturing performance remain open questions.

NASA says the project is funded through Glenn’s 2026 Center Innovation Fund, managed by the agency’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate. The forthcoming temperature and space-exposure tests may clarify the material’s limits, but the announcement does not set out a timetable for deciding whether it could be used to make mission equipment.