Great news for Canadians, but mostly for Albertans. A new LEGO®-related event is beginning! An ESA space brick is coming to the West Edmonton Mall LEGO® Store for display starting on June 24, 2024. You will be able to see it there until September 20, 2024. As a science and space geek, I am pretty excited about this, especially since I will be in Edmonton later this year.
So, what exactly is a space brick? Simply put, it is a prototype building element designed by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was inspired by on the LEGO® Brick in order to test potential building materials for use in creating structures on the surface of the Moon. Since building materials cannot be ferried from Earth to the Moon, astronauts building a base there will need to develop them with materials found on the Moon.
These bricks are made from some materials as old as the Earth!
These bricks might look a little rough around the edges. That is because they are not made from the standard LEGO® ABS plastic. Instead, they were 3D printed using a mixture of polylactide and meteor dust. Polylactide is a renewable form of plastic generated using plant-based materials, like sugarcane. The meteor dust came from a 4.5 billion year old meteorite that crashed in Africa and was found in 2000. Clearly, the bricks do not pass the LEGO® Group’s usual high quality standards for Earth. However, they maintain the stud-and-tube design and clutch power, making them functional for use on the Moon.
I’m pretty excited about this. I have already planned a late-summer vacation in Alberta. The West Edmonton Mall is on my itinerary simply because it has Canada’s only LEGO® flagship store. Now I am even more eager to get there so I can see a LEGO®-like brick made from a 4.5 billion year old meteorite. Are you as excited as I am? Let me know in the comments or reach out on social media. For a full list of international LEGO® Stores displaying ESA space bricks, see below.
Until next time,
-Tom
Where to see ESA Space Bricks from June 24 – September 20, 2024:
Australia
- Sydney – The LEGO® Store in Pitt Street Mall
Canada
- Edmonton, Alberta – The LEGO® Store in West Edmonton Mall
Denmark
- Copenhagen – The LEGO® Store
- Billund – LEGO® House
France
- Paris – The LEGO® Store
Germany
- Munich – The LEGO® Store in München Zentrum
- Cologne – The LEGO® Store
Netherlands
- Amsterdam – The LEGO® Store
Spain
- Barcelona – The LEGO® Store
United Kingdom
- London, England – The LEGO® Store, Leicester Square
United States
- Bloomington, Minnesota – The LEGO® Store in Mall of America
- Disney Springs, Florida – The LEGO® Store
- Chicago, Illinois – The LEGO® Store in Water Tower Place
- Disneyland Resort, California – The LEGO® Store
- New York, New York – The LEGO® Store, 5th Avenue
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