**1. Introduction**

Preparing for life on another planet or a planetary object requires an enormous effort from scientists and engineers [1]. The first steps toward extraterrestrial life are the crewed missions to the Moon, aiming to build the basis for the future long-term presence of humans beyond Earth. A remarkable amount of research and feasibility studies are being done by the European Space Agency (ESA) in Europe [2] and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the USA [3, 4] on how to construct a

"new home in space," in a manner to eliminate the need for supply materials from Earth.

In this context, the use of space resources is one of the key directions in preparation for future human missions to the Moon. The so-called *in situ* Resource Utilization (ISRU) program by ESA and NASA explores the possibility of converting local resources of space bodies into valuable products and materials [5–8]. ISRU will ensure the sustainability and energy efficiency of space exploration, reduce the cost of delivery from Earth, and minimize mission risks. Among the topics of current ISRU research are producing metals and construction materials by transforming local regolith and rocks [9, 10], harvesting oxygen and hydrogen from minerals and water [10, 11], and growing plants [12, 13]. In this sense, the development of structurally sound composite materials with superior properties that can benefit from ISRU is crucial for preparing missions to the Moon. Many aspects of habitat construction, from large-scale infrastructure (e.g., communication and energy generation and storage) to manufacturing (e.g., equipment, tools, and machinery), would benefit from ISRU.

In space and on the lunar surface, there are many factors potentially leading to damage in materials, such as exposure to vacuum, extreme thermal conditions, impact collisions with micrometeoroids, and radiation [14]. Among these, radiation is considered particularly harmful for different functional components and instruments of spacecraft and lunar surface missions. Radiation can induce structural defects that evolve from nanoscale to micro- and macro-damage, causing degradation of the mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of materials or can even lead to direct failure in electronic signals before interacting with the very structural composition of the material. Therefore, improving the radiation resistance of materials to be used in space missions and searching for more radiation-resistant materials is of utmost importance. The research effort is directed toward finding composite materials that can better withstand radiation and other challenges faced by mission components in space and on space bodies and exhibit self-healing capabilities [15].

In this chapter, we first introduce some relevant materials for two of the most critical applications on the Moon, i.e., habitat construction and energy production. Then, we provide an overview of the radiation environment on the lunar surface and different radiation effects that can be induced in materials by such an environment. We then discuss the ways of combining traditional methods commonly used to study radiation effects with recent advanced approaches in materials modeling and provide examples of radiation-effects modeling studies on different materials. Additionally, we discuss the possibilities of using novel promising materials with exceptional properties relevant for space exploration, with an emphasis on their radiation resistance.

### **2. Materials for practical applications on the Moon**

NASA has identified the most important components of the lunar mission as (i) design and construction of habitats and (ii) resource and power management [16]. In particular, the emphasis is on lightweight materials that will be critical for mass reduction and thus increase the science return of the mission. Both components mentioned above will strongly rely on ISRU, i.e., *in situ* regolith processing and recycling [8, 17]. Below we provide examples of materials that will be of use for both habitat construction and power generation.

*Modeling Radiation Damage in Materials Relevant for Exploration and Settlement on the Moon DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102808*
