Description: Safety hazards arise from plume-surface interactions (PSI) of rockets on the Moon. A technologic solution for PSI includes in situ derived and constructed lunar bricks (class III construction). However, the strength and thermal assessment of lunar bricks today relies solely on simplified terrestrial simulants. Bricks will be manufactured with varying methods and crystallinity at UTSA using two techniques: (i) melting, pouring and annealing, and (ii) pressing and sintering powdered regolith. The melting method will produce dense bricks that should maximize strength but also requires more energy. The sintering method will typically produce less dense bricks that retain porosity, which reduces their thermal conductivity and the compressive strength, while requiring lower maximum temperatures and less energy. For each method a range of temperature-time histories will be employed to achieve a range of crystallinity. I will rigorously characterize these bricks through optical and electron microscopy, density measurement, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), uniaxial compression and tensile strength testing, to accurately determine their strength and crystallinity. The ultimate goal is to engineer reproducible, durable, high-strength bricks vital for safety and construction on the Moon. At the core of this proposal is a commitment to pioneer engineering solutions that will make lunar habitation safe and construction more efficient. Currently used regolith simulants are terrestrially-derived and lack crucial, complex, and uncharacterized ingredients like agglutinates, bringing uncertainty to any high-temperature testing and manufacturing in the ISRU context. Currently, the lack of high-temperature data makes it impossible to verify if Earth-made lunar simulants have high-temperature properties that accurately mimic those on the Moon. I will conduct DSC measurements on simulants and on curated lunar samples in the UTSA Heat And Mass Transfer & Experimental Rheology (HAMsTER) lab. After DSC reveals the most thermally analogous terrestrial simulant, manufacturing and testing of bricks will begin. This proposal could be further augmented by an NSTGRO visiting technologist at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MFSC) Plasma Torch Testing Facility (PTTF) which can test the strongest, thermally analogous bricks in simulated repeated rocket take-off and landing. This novel, pragmatic, technology-driven approach will ensure our engineering solutions are faithful to lunar surface materials, and deliver practical and reproducible outcomes furthering space exploration and lunar construction projects. This initiative goes beyond engineering, representing a tangible step toward making sustainable lunar habitation a reality. This proposal directly addresses Space Technology Strategic Framework LIVE: ISRU, and Excavation, Construction, and Outfitting (ECO). Specifically, targeting ECO StarPort Gap ID 1293 In-situ construction of launch/landing pads, as well as addressing the Moon to Mars (M2M) ISRU Objective AS-3LM to characterize accessible lunar resources and data to enable ISRU.