A hot idea: Zambonis on the moon

Moon dust has a curious property: Though it's the product of rocks on the lunar surface that have been smashed to bits by meteorite strikes, the dust has way more elemental iron in it than do the rocks it came from.

The reason? The meteorite impacts vaporize some rock components. When the gas condenses, a chemical reaction leaves behind tiny particles of pure iron that collect in the pulverized dust. The solidified dust, which resembles melted glass, is shot through with nanometer-sized iron, like grains of pepper in an ice cube.

Scientists first realized this in the 1970s when they studied the dust samples the Apollo astronauts brought back.

In the mid-'90s, former Apollo scientist Lawrence Taylor was re-examining the dust and noticed the smallest grains, with their patina of concentrated iron, were most susceptible to a magnet.

But Taylor didn't stop there. The iron grains had given him an idea. Maybe you could melt moon dust.

Using an old microwave, Taylor zapped a pinch of moon dust. The iron grains absorbed the energy and dissipated it as heat.

When they cooled, the grains had congealed into a solid mass. Not only did that solve the dust-spreading problems, it opened a world of possibilities.

Taylor, now 68 and director of the University of Tennessee's Planetary Geosciences Institute, envisions a wheeled microwave — a lunar Zamboni — that could pave landing pads or roads. You could forge dust into bricks or I-beams for habitats.

You also could capture melt gases and process them into rocket fuel and other consumables. Former astronaut Harrison Schmitt, a friend of Taylor's, is pushing the idea of collecting helium from moon dust and using it to fire fusion reactors for clean energy back on Earth. (The technology still must be worked out.)