NASA is planning the Artemis Missions to take humans back to the moon for the first time in decades. But instead of just visiting, the plan is to make habitats for a much longer stay.
A new article helps detail some of the efforts by NASA to plan creating moon buildings and habitats using 3D printed moon dust.
“NASA is going to build houses on the moon — ones that can be used not just by astronauts but ordinary civilians as well. They believe that by 2040, Americans will have their first subdivision in space.”
ICON is calling its plan for off-world construction Project Olympus. It’s an in situ resource utilization construction system, meaning it would make use of materials found on other planets, not here on earth.
“NASA has partnered with ICON, a construction technology company based in Austin, Texas, to reach its 2040 goal. ICON first received funding from NASA in 2020, and in 2022, it announced an additional $60 million for a space-based construction system that can be used beyond earth to print everything from rocket landing pads to habitats, all with concrete mixed on site.”
So far, the plans for houses on the moon are little more than renderings, but architects at firms like SEArch+ (Space Exploration Architecture) have drawn up concepts, including this one, called the Lunar Lantern.
A rendering of what life on the moon inside the Lunar Lantern might look like.
