04-07-2025
Florida's Exolith Lab: Building the blueprint for a moon-based future
The Brief
UCF scientists are leading global research on how to build roads, landing pads, and infrastructure on the moon using simulated lunar soil.
Their work could enable future missions to Mars, solve key energy problems on Earth, and launch a space-based industrial revolution.
Florida-based experiments in lunar construction, AI robotics, and energy-saving techniques are already showing promising results.
Dr. Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at UCF's Florida Space Institute, believes the moon holds the key to three major goals for humanity:
Unlocking the history of the solar system
Launching cheaper missions to Mars
Relocating energy and resource-intensive industries off Earth
"It's like the moon is Earth's attic," Metzger said, referring to how its untouched surface holds a preserved record of how life-supporting elements like water and carbon may have arrived on Earth.
The moon is loaded with water ice—especially at its South Pole. Metzger explained that we can use solar power to extract that ice, split it into hydrogen and oxygen, and produce rocket fuel.
"By building a mining and rocket fuel production facility on the moon, we can cut the cost of Mars missions by an order of magnitude," he said.
This would transform the moon into a spaceport, launching Mars missions and satellites more efficiently than from Earth.
As AI continues to expand, so does its need for massive computing power and energy. Metzger argues that we should move industrial operations into space—and the moon is the first step.
"There's no reason why we can't put that AI off the Earth into space," he said. "We need material to build the infrastructure… and move Earth's economic burden off the planet."
Space offers billions of times more solar energy than Earth. Tapping into that energy can help:
Power space-based AI servers
Beam clean energy back to Earth
Expand civilization sustainably
To make lunar construction possible, UCF's Exolith Lab is testing simulated moon soil to solve problems created by heavy landers, which can:
Kick up dangerous dust
Create damaging craters
Risk tipping over spacecraft
To counter this, researchers are developing:
Landing pads made by melting lunar soil
Roads and structures that don't waste precious water
Microwave-powered construction methods using sorted magnetic minerals
"We proved that we could reduce the amount of energy [needed to build with microwaves] by 70%," Metzger explained.
They achieved this by developing a moon grain sorter that separates the most magnetic grains—making construction three times more energy-efficient.
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Because of the tsignal delay between Earth and the moon, controlling robots remotely is a challenge.
The solution: AI digital twins
Operators control a virtual version of the robot in real-time. The simulation then directs the real robot on the moon—and corrects for any mismatches automatically.
"The simulation has to resynchronize without confusing the operator," Metzger said.
This makes complex construction and mining tasks possible, even from Earth.
What's next
From simulated soils in Florida labs to real robotic systems on the moon, scientists are laying the foundation for:
Permanent lunar research stations
Space-based industries
Cheaper, more sustainable exploration of Mars and beyond
For more on these breakthroughs, including how Central Florida is shaping the future of space exploration, visit the Fox Local App and check out the Breakthroughs in Science section.
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The Source
This report is based on in-depth interviews with Dr. Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida. It includes original reporting from UCF's Exolith Lab.
