Stunning Nasa-backed space homes that will be ‘printed’ by giant robots so humans can live on brutal Moon surface
Large 3D-printing robots may one day construct space houses for NASA astronauts.
Project Olympus, which aims to build structures on the Moon and eventually Mars, would include these robots.
Crucially, they would build using lunar rock using local resources rather than transporting bulky items from Earth across space.
It was created by the Texas-based 3D printing business Icon, which has been funded by NASA to the tune of millions of dollars.
Lunar Rock was awarded a contract by NASA in 2020 to construct enormous space dwellings, which are estimated to cost about $60 million.
Speaking at the time, NASA’s Niki Werkheiser stated, “We need innovative new technologies adapted to those environments and our exploration needs in order to explore other worlds.”
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“Pushing this development forward with our commercial partners will create the capabilities we need forfuturemissions.”
NASA’s Martian habitat simulation, Mars Dune Alpha, was created by Icon.
In order to experience what it might be like, astronauts lived and worked inside the habitat during last year’s CHAPEA mission.
As part of NASA’s Artemis effort to establish a permanent human presence on the moon, Icon now aims to assist the agency in building space dwellings.
Icon is also planning designs for roadways, landing pads, and other pressurized structures in addition to dwellings.
“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,” Jason Ballard, CEO of Icon, said.
Glimpse Nasa s Lunar Gateway space station that will be floating home over Moon
“We are happy that our engineering and research to date have shown that such systems are feasible, and we are eager to turn that potential into 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.”
“Longer-term lunar habitation” is part of the “sustainable lunar economy” that Icon says is the ultimate goal.
NASA has initially set its sights on the Moon for off-Earth habitation, but this might eventually mean Mars.
In 2022, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket underwent a successful uncrewed test during Artemis I, the first phase.
A crewed test flight and a manned landing on the Moon’s surface will come next.
NASA revealed earlier this week that there had been a significant setback to its Artemis mission.
The initial plan was for the crewed flight to land on the Moon as part of Artemis III to happen in 2026.
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.
The planned crewed test mission of the Orion spacecraft and SLS is called Artemis II (2026).
Artemis III (2027) 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.
However, NASA now states that it won’t occur before mid-2027.
Additionally, the first scheduled September 2025 crewed Artemis II test mission around the Moon has been rescheduled for April 2026 at the latest.
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Ongoing development on the heatshield for the Orion capsule, which will carry people on the Artemis missions, was cited as the cause of the delay.
The achievements and setbacks of the Artemis program will have a significant impact on NASA’s plans for crewed missions to Mars.
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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