Dust is one of the main challenges faced by astronauts and spacecraft on the Moon: it erodes space suits, clogs machinery, interferes with scientific instruments and makes moving around difficult.

However, paving the lunar surface could help to address this problem.

“You might think: ‘Streets on the moon, who needs that?’” said Professor Jens Günster, a co-author of the report. “But [...] it’s very loose material, there’s no atmosphere, gravity is weak, so the dust gets everywhere. It contaminates not only your equipment but other nations’. No one would be happy to be covered in dust from another rocket.”

For this reason, scientists have created a proof of concept demonstrating how lunar dust could be melted using a giant lens to create solid roads and landing areas. 

The Aalen University team used a 12kW laser with a diameter of 100mm (3.93in) to heat a powder made of plagioclase, olivine and pyroxene, developed as a substitute for lunar dust. Its findings...