{"id":19729,"date":"2022-11-29T22:23:26","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T22:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/29\/would-you-live-in-a-new-3d-printed-moon-hut\/"},"modified":"2022-11-29T22:23:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T22:23:26","slug":"would-you-live-in-a-new-3d-printed-moon-hut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/11\/29\/would-you-live-in-a-new-3d-printed-moon-hut\/","title":{"rendered":"Would You Live in a New 3D-Printed Moon Hut?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Artist\u2019s illustration for ICON infrastructure ICON<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA spacecrafts tend not to be the most comfortable places to live, and have sleeping arrangements that make an uncomfortable futon look like a deluxe bed. One company may make it easier one day for astronauts and eventually moon tourists to stretch out a little in a 3D printed home.<\/p>\n

It may not qualify into the three L\u2019s of real estate, but Austin-based Icon Technology secured a\u00a0$57.2 million contract to develop the technology to print 3D homes for the moon. This wouldn\u2019t involve 3D printing the homes on Earth and then strapping them to a rocket like when you see a small house on a flatbed truck.<\/p>\n

Instead, ICON would use locally available Lunar dirt and rock \u2014 or regolith, as geologists like to say \u2014 and mine the materials using robotics to help create powdery Moon structures that resemble futuristic igloos.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo change the space exploration paradigm from \u2018there and back again\u2019 to \u2018there to stay,\u2019 we\u2019re going to need robust, resilient, and broadly capable systems that can use the local resources of the Moon and other planetary bodies,\u201d said Jason Ballard, ICON co-founder and CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe final deliverable of this contract will be humanity\u2019s first construction on another world, and that is going to be a pretty special achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICON currently applies similar methods to 3D printing parts for houses in the States and Mexico, using materials from Earth obviously, not the moon. They received the moon contract as part of\u00a0Phase III of NASA\u2019s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, based upon previous NASA funding for\u00a0ICON\u2019s Project Olympus<\/a>, which seeks to explore space-based construction systems in order to support future exploration of the Moon and beyond.<\/p>\n

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