One of the major challenges in implementing and maintain a permanent Moon base is the need for a constant input of consumables including not only food/water/oxygen for the crew but also provision of module elements, power generation, module interior fittings, laboratory resources, medical facilities etc. All of these needs require a major logistics implementation when they have to be transported from Earth. The possibility of reducing this Earth dependency by making maximum use of both existing lunar surface materials and re-cycling of lunar base materials will represent the only programmatic solution to assure a sustainable settlement. In this framework, a novel lithographic printing technique (called Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing -LMM) for processing metallic powders will be an asset to pave the way in this direction. In contrast to the currently predominantly used powder bed fusion (direct metal laser melting) techniques, this process uses a paste/suspension as feedstock and hence, does not rely on the use of highly-spherical gas atomized powders. This will enable the utilization of recycled powders from scrap metals that are available at Moon bases and provides higher flexibility in accepting raw material with poor quality and purity. LMM can be used as a complimentary technology to other AM-solutions, such as Direct Metal Laser Sintering, as it also represents a great advantage when focusing on smaller, more complex parts, which require a high feature resolution and improved surface quality. The process can be used to directly produce parts in a small-scale series or to manufacture prototypes to mitigate risks on the final production.
