LunoGlass (formerly RegoGlass — cards merged, July 2026)

Overview

Lunar development is now a question of how and from what, not whether. Every decision passes through a delivery-cost filter of about $1,000,000 per kg, and that filter lets nothing superfluous through. Glass cannot be brought from Earth: a base for 20 people means 500–700 m³ of structures, and replacing even 10% of that volume with glass — 50–70 m³ — would require delivering 125,000–175,000 kg, roughly 150 tons, at a cost of $125–175 billion for the glass alone, before equipment, people and everything else. Everything produced on the Moon must therefore be made from local raw material.

The mainstream route under consideration is regolith sintering — heating to 1,100–1,200 °C, melt, cooling, yielding ceramic or glass. It works, but does not scale on the energy budget of an early lunar base. ARBOK's answer is that the same starting material yields two classes of product: glass through melting at high energy cost, and an alkali-activated composite at an order-of-magnitude lower cost. Glass becomes a local product made in small batches for specific tasks — portholes, optics, protective layers — while the main structure is formed from the composite.

Applications

Glass from regolith for portholes, optical elements and protective layers of a lunar base — the source notes that without portholes life on the satellite would be confinement in a dark prison. Alkali-activated regolith composite as the load-bearing construction material for the base structures.

Operating Principle

Feedstock. Regolith is not simply dust but a mixture of minerals, glass phase and fragments formed by billions of years of impacts. The layer is from metres to tens of metres thick; particles are 60–80 µm, sharp and abrasive; composition is silicon, aluminium, calcium, magnesium and iron, with an FeO fraction of about 15–18%. There is no water and no atmosphere — hence no classical concrete, no conventional binders and no wet processes in their usual form. Regolith contains an amorphous glass phase formed by impact processes, which potentially raises its reactivity but requires preparation and composition control for a stable result.

Composite route (continuous, low-energy). The same regolith is taken; after fraction preparation and composition levelling, a measured dose of alkaline activator is added. A reaction starts that forms an aluminosilicate matrix without high temperatures. Energy consumption is 14–28 kWh per m³. The resulting material is a granular structure with a chemical binder: unlike glass, cracks in it do not propagate freely but are arrested at grain boundaries.

Glass route (pulsed, high-temperature). Local heating to 1,100–1,200 °C, forming, and rapid heat removal through contact and radiation in vacuum. Energy consumption remains at 400–550 kWh per m³.

Both processes can be run on the same energy and thermal installations working in different regimes — continuous low-energy and pulsed high-temperature. ARBOK proposes a technological loop uniting the two regimes into a single system.

Limitations stated in the source. Glass is an amorphous mass with no internal structure: it holds compression well but almost does not hold tension. Any microcrack in glass grows, because it has no internal barriers. On the Moon this is amplified by thermal cycles of about 290 °C and by micrometeorite microdamage accumulating in the material. A pressurized volume works in tension — pressure inside, vacuum outside — which creates a direct risk of failure. The composite route also does not remove framing elements entirely: the source states that additional frame elements may be retained in a number of zones.

Key Parameters

| Parameter | Value |

|---|---|

| Delivery cost to the Moon | about $1,000,000 per kg |

| Regolith layer thickness | from metres to tens of metres |

| Regolith particle size | 60–80 µm, sharp and abrasive |

| Regolith composition | silicon, aluminium, calcium, magnesium, iron; FeO fraction about 15–18% |

| Base volume for 20 people | 500–700 m³ of structures |

| Glass at 10% of that volume | 50–70 m³ = 125,000–175,000 kg, roughly 150 tons |

| Delivery cost of that glass | $125–175 billion |

| Realistic glass demand for a 20-person base | about 2–10 m³ (portholes, optical elements, protective layers) |

| Energy for that glass demand | 800–5,500 kWh — fits a local production mode without a separate energy system |

| Sintering / melting temperature | 1,100–1,200 °C |

| Energy, glass route | 400–550 kWh per m³ |

| Energy, glass route for full base volume | 200,000–385,000 kWh |

| Alkaline activator dosage | Low — a minor, proprietary fraction of the mix |

| Energy, composite route | 14–28 kWh per m³ |

| Energy, composite route for full base volume | 7,000–20,000 kWh |

| Available power of an early lunar base | 30–40 kW |

| Production time, glass route | 8–14 months of continuous operation |

| Production time, composite route | 1–3 months |

| Energy saving, composite vs glass | 93–97% — more than an order of magnitude |

| Composite compressive strength | 60–90 MPa |

| Composite tensile strength | 4–8 MPa |

| Lunar night duration | 14 days, with solar generation dropping to zero |

| Storage required to cover the night | 10–11 MWh |

| Mass of such storage systems | from tens to hundreds of tons, depending on storage technology |

| Thermal cycling on the Moon | about 290 °C |

Architecture and Components

A single set of energy and thermal installations operating in two regimes: continuous low-energy (alkaline activation of prepared regolith into aluminosilicate composite) and pulsed high-temperature (local heating to 1,100–1,200 °C, forming, rapid heat removal through contact and radiation in vacuum). Upstream: fraction preparation and composition levelling of the regolith. Consumable: a measured alkaline activator dose.

The specific furnace design, forming tooling and activator supply chain are engineering details particular to ARBOK's implementation and are not broken out further here. The loop is designed to share the same footprint and much of the same equipment across both regimes, rather than requiring two separate installations.

Advantages

Construction material is made from what is already on site, which is the only class of material that passes the $1,000,000 per kg delivery barrier. Composite production consumes 14–28 kWh/m³ against 400–550 kWh/m³ for glass — 93–97% less energy, and a multiple reduction in time: 1–3 months against 8–14 months at 30–40 kW available power. Construction stays within the span of a single mission. No separate energy infrastructure is needed for glass, because glass is produced in small batches for the 2–10 m³ actually required. Unlike glass, the composite arrests cracks at grain boundaries, giving 60–90 MPa in compression and 4–8 MPa in tension, which allows it to serve as a load-bearing material and substantially lowers the requirement for additional frame elements. The composite route needs no full melt, no water and no conventional binders — all unavailable on the Moon.

Integrations

ARBOK's Institute has previously published on lunar building technologies based on acid-alkaline activation chemistry rather than sintering, the approach others in the field propose. Both product routes in LunoGlass share one set of energy and thermal installations, so this card extends that same design lineage from binder chemistry into optical and glazing materials.

It sits alongside LunaLand, Green Concrete and Electroconcrete as part of the same regolith-based materials platform.

Deployment & Operation

Production on site from local regolith, with the main structure formed from the composite and glass produced locally in small batches for specific tasks. At 30–40 kW available power the composite route delivers the base volume in 1–3 months, provided a significant share of the energy is allocated to construction. Deployment scales with mission size: the composite route is sized to crew life-support priorities, and the small glass batches needed for portholes and optics are scheduled around it rather than run as a separate continuous line.

TRL

TRL 2 — assigned 2026-08-06.

The original source material assigns no TRL rating of its own; this reflects an external assessment against standard TRL criteria.

Market Potential

The source gives no formal market sizing of its own. Its framing: lunar development is on the agenda today as the search for a sea route to India was 500 years ago, and the question is no longer whether to fly or to build but how, from what, and what is most effective and cheapest. As with other regolith-based construction technologies in the ARBOK portfolio, demand is tied to the pace of Artemis-programme and International Lunar Research Station infrastructure decisions, where the window for settling on a construction-material approach is measured in a small number of years before the cost of switching later rises sharply.

Typical Project Economics

The economics in the source are stated as avoided delivery cost rather than as CAPEX/OPEX. Delivering glass for 10% of a 20-person base volume would cost $125–175 billion at $1,000,000 per kg — a figure the source uses to close the discussion of importing glass. The energy comparison for the same base volume: 7,000–20,000 kWh for the composite against 200,000–385,000 kWh for glass, i.e. 1–3 months against 8–14 months of production at 30–40 kW.

Risk Factors

Glass as a structural material. Amorphous, no internal structure, good in compression and almost non-functional in tension. Any microcrack grows because there are no internal barriers. Thermal cycles of about 290 °C and accumulating micrometeorite microdamage amplify this. A pressurized volume works in tension — internal pressure against external vacuum — creating a direct risk of destruction.

Energy budget of the sintering route. 200,000–385,000 kWh for a 500–700 m³ base at 30–40 kW available power means 8–14 months of continuous operation, and only if a significant share of energy goes to construction. In reality the resource is shared with life-support and thermal-stabilization systems, which extends the timeline.

Lunar night. 14 days with solar generation at zero, requiring storage at the level of 10–11 MWh. The mass of such systems ranges from tens to hundreds of tons depending on storage technology, which turns energy supply into a separate problem in its own right.

Feedstock variability. The impact-formed amorphous glass phase in regolith potentially raises reactivity but requires preparation and composition control to give a stable result.

Residual framing. The composite substantially lowers, but does not universally remove, the need for additional frame elements — the source notes they may be retained in a number of zones.

Consumable dependency. The composite route requires an alkaline activator. On-site lunar sources are limited (as detailed under LunaLand), so sourcing — whether delivered from Earth or extracted from local minerals — remains an open supply-chain question that affects long-run unit cost.

Related Technologies

LunoGlass · LunaLand · Green Concrete · Geo-Polymer Arbok · Electroconcrete · TEG-BETON