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NASA astronauts of the future could live inside space homes built by giant 3D-printing robots.
These robots would be part of Project Olympus, which hopes to construct buildings on the Moon and eventually Mars.
Nasa has backed a 3D-printing design company called Icon to craft space homes from lunar rock[/caption]
Icon will work to design the very first human colonies on the lunar surface for Nasa[/caption]
Importantly, they’d use local resources – building with lunar rock, rather than shipping heavy materials across space from Earth.
It’s the brainchild of Texas-based 3D-printing company Icon, which has received millions of dollars in funding from Nasa.
The plans to build giant space homes from lunar rock won a contract from Nasa in 2020, and is valued at around $60 million.
“In order to explore other worlds, we need innovative new technologies adapted to those environments and our exploration needs,” said Nasa’s Niki Werkheiser, speaking at the time.
“Pushing this development forward with our commercial partners will create the capabilities we need for future missions.”
Icon was the company behind Nasa’s simulated Martian habitat – Mars Dune Alpha.
It was used in last year’s CHAPEA mission, where astronauts lived and worked inside the habitat to see what it would be like.
Now Icon hopes to help Nasa build space homes as part of the agency’s Artemis mission to create a continued human presence on the Moon.
Not just homes either: Icon is plotting designs for landing pads, roads, and other pressurised buildings too.
“To change the space exploration paradigm from ‘there and back again’ to ‘there to stay,’ we’re going to need robust, resilient, and broadly capable systems that can use the local resources of the Moon and other planetary bodies,” said Icon chief Jason Ballard.
“We’re pleased that our research and engineering to-date has demonstrated that such systems are indeed possible, and we look forward to now making that possibility a reality.
“The final deliverable of this contract will be humanity’s first construction on another world, and that is going to be a pretty special achievement.”
The ultimate goal is to create a “sustainable lunar economy”, according to Icon, which includes “longer-term lunar habitation”.
This might eventually mean Mars – but for now, Nasa has first set its sights on the Moon for off-Earth living.
Giant robots will 3D-print structures on the Moon’s surface using local materials[/caption]
The first phase was Artemis I in 2022, which saw a successful uncrewed test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
This will be followed by a crewed test flight, and then a manned landing on the Moon’s surface.
Earlier this week, Nasa announced that its Artemis program had suffered a major delay.
The crewed flight that was set to land on the Moon as part of Artemis III was originally scheduled to take place in 2026.
NASA ARTEMIS MISSIONS – THE TIMELINE
The Artemis mission is designed to reestablish a human presence on the Moon.
The exploration program will involve a series of missions, including the create of a permanent Moon base.
As with all space missions, planned timings can be wildly off – but here’s what we’re expecting…
Artemis I (2022) – Successful uncrewed test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Artemis II (2026) – Planned crewed test flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft.
Artemis III (2027) – Crewed landing on surface of Moon – the first American landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Artemis IV (2028) – Second crewed lunar landing mission using Orion, as well as Starship HLS that will dock with Lunar Gateway station near the Moon.
Artemis V (2030) – Third crewed landing, including the delivery of Nasa’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle.
Artemis VI (2031) – Fourth crewed landing, integrating the Crew and Science Airlock with the Lunar Gateway Space Station.
But now Nasa says that it will happen no earlier than the middle of 2027.
And the crewed Artemis II test flight around the Moon that was originally planned for September 2025 is now set for April 2026 at the earliest.
The delay was linked to ongoing work on the heatshield for the Orion capsule that will transport astronauts as part of the Artemis missions.
Nasa’s plans for crewed visits to Mars will be heavily influenced by the successes and failures of the Artemis program.
Robots will harvest lunar rock – known as regolith – for construction of the off-Earth buildings[/caption]
The Moon – our closest neighbour explained
Here's what you need to know…
- The Moon is a natural satellite – a space-faring body that orbits a planet
- It’s Earth’s only natural satellite, and is the fifth biggest in the Solar System
- The Moon measures 2,158 miles across, roughly 0.27 times the diameter of Earth
- Temperatures on the Moon range from minus 173 degrees Celcius to 260 degrees Celcius
- Experts assumed the Moon was another planet, until Nicolaus Copernicus outlined his theory about our Solar System in 1543
- It was eventually assigned to a “class” after Galileo discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610
- The Moon is believed to have formed around 4.51billion years ago
- The strength of its gravitational field is about a sixth of Earth’s gravity
- Earth and the Moon have “synchronous rotation”, which means we always see the same side of the Moon – hence the phrase “dark side of the Moon”
- The Moon’s surface is actually dark, but appears bright in the sky due to its reflective ground
- During a solar eclipse, the Moon covers the Sun almost completely. Both objects appear a similar size in the sky because the Sun is both 400 times larger and farther
- The first spacecraft to reach the Moon was in 1959, as part of the Soviet Union’s Lunar program
- The first manned orbital mission was Nasa’s Apollo 8 in 1968
- And the first manned lunar landing was in 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission
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