Nasa’s towering ‘Moon stone’ homes created by harvesting alien lunar rock with giant ‘mining robot’ revealed
One day, astronauts might reside in soaring dwellings made of lunar rock on the moon.
NASA photos show the potential architecture of the buildings as well as the mining robot that would gather the building materials.
Right now, the space agency is getting ready to send people back to the Moon’s surface.
It is anticipated that the Artemis III mission, scheduled for no sooner than September 2026, will appropriately kick off that.
In addition to marking the start of preparations to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface, it will see NASA astronauts land at the Moon’s south pole.
Additionally, NASA’s long-term goal is to mine lunar regolith, a layer of surface rock, in order to build inexpensive structures on the moon.
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The goal is to build “fully outfitted facilities and buildings to support a permanent lunar settlement and vibrant space economy” .
NASA has already been using computer simulations known as “Moon Tycoon” to test virtual versions of mining robots.
In order to prove that it can effectively gather “up to 10 metric tons of regolith,” a real-life model of the robot excavator will eventually fly to the Moon “in the next several years.”
“This will be the first time excavating for mining operations, or in other words, where the intent is to actually use the resources,” described Jason Schuler, a robotic engineer at NASA.
NASA can start experimenting with actually constructing structures on the lunar surface after it has successfully harvested moon rock.
This kind of house is referred to as a “Class III” building by NASA.
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After being constructed on Earth, a Class I building is transported to the Moon.
Class II requires assembly and outfitting up there, but it will be deployed on the Moon’s surface.
Class III refers to buildings that are entirely constructed on the Moon using local materials.
After being gathered, the rock might be 3D printed into any structure NASA requires.
NASA ARTEMIS MISSIONS THE TIMELINE
The goal of the Artemis mission is to bring people back to the Moon.
The establishment of a permanent Moon base is one of the missions that will be part of the exploration program.
Planned timeframes can vary greatly, as with any space missions, but this is what we anticipate…
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s uncrewed test, Artemis I (2022), was successful.
Artemis II (2025) planned Orion spaceship and SLS crewed test flight.
Artemis III (2026) The first American crewed landing on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The second crewed lunar landing mission, Artemis IV (2028), will use Orion and the Starship HLS to dock with the Lunar Gateway station close to the moon.
The third crewed landing of Artemis V (2030) will include the delivery of NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle.
The Lunar Gateway Space Station and the Crew and Science Airlock are integrated during Artemis VI’s fourth crewed landing in 2031.
The space agency has already unveiled beautiful 3D-printed building ideas from New York-based SpaceFactory, a forward-thinking architecture firm.
According to NASA, this third tactic might be effective not only on the Moon but also on Mars.
Crucially, spacehomes aren’t the only use for the material that NASA’s mining robot will be gathering.
NASA wants to be able to collect regolith and utilize it to construct nearly anything on the moon.
Additionally, to ensure that everything goes according to plan, this procedure can be pre-simulated on a computer.
Schuler clarified, “We can dig up the regolith and use it as building material.”
“With simulation, we can construct berms, compact routes, landing pads, and leveling zones for site preparation.
“All of these capabilities are important for enabling a sustainable human presence on the Moon.”
According to NASA, the material could be used to construct 330-foot launch pads, kilometers of roadways, and 165-foot structures.
Furthermore, it might produce “shelters and habitats” with a volume of “thousands of cubic meters.”
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“Asset and crew protection” from “thermal, radiation” hazards would result from this, according to NASA.
Additionally, it would be hoped that these systems would endure for at least ten years, if not longer.
The Moon our closest neighbour explained
What you should know is this…
- 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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