As part of NASA's Artemis program to establish a long-term presence on the moon, it aims to build an Artemis base camp that includes a modern lunar cabin, rover and mobile home. This fixed habitat could potentially be constructed with bricks made of lunar regolith and saltwater, thanks to a recent discovery from a team of UCF researchers.

Associate Professor Ranajay Ghosh of UCF's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and his research group found that 3D-printed bricks of lunar regolith can withstand the extreme environments of space and are a good candidate for cosmic construction projects. Lunar regolith is the loose dust, rocks and materials that cover the moon's surface.

The results of their experiments are detailed in a recent issue of Ceramics International.

To create the bricks, Ghosh's team in the Complex Structures and Mechanics of Solids (COSMOS) Lab used a combination of 3D printing and binder jet technology (BJT), an additive manufacturing method that forces out a liquid binding agent onto a bed of powder.

A partial solar eclipse began over Iceland on Tuesday as the rare celestial spectacle started to make its way east across a swathe of the Northern Hemisphere.

The partial eclipse began at 0858 GMT and will end off the coast of India at 1302 GMT, crossing parts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East on its way, according to the IMCCE institute of France's Paris Observatory.

Amateur astronomers must not stare directly at the eclipse, which will not darken the sky, and should instead wear protective glasses to avoid eye damage, experts said.

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting its shadow down onto our planet.

A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon completely blocks the Sun's disk, momentarily plunging a portion of the Earth into complete darkness.