ICON wants to print a lunar colony
The Future. NASA has set construction startup ICON — the company behind “House Zero” 3D printed homes — to figure out how to 3D print buildings on the Moon to eventually construct the first lunar colony. Development is already underway. If ICON can successfully pass NASA’s test, building a neighborhood on the Moon may be as easy as doing so here on Earth… and launch a new wave of lunar-based investment.
Moon manufacturingBringing building materials to the Moon is exceedingly difficult. But what if you could just print them?
Fast Company reports that ICON was awarded a $57.2 million Phase III SBIR grant from NASA to print 3D structures on the Moon as part of the Artemis mission.
The contract calls for ICON to fly its tech to the Moon and demonstrate printing a building on the lunar surface in 2026.
Although ICON typically uses water to make its printing material, it can’t do so because water sublimates on the Moon.
Instead, the company will use regolith (the rocks and dust on the lunar surface) as printing material — making the endear extremely sustainable.
Ultimately, the structure will need to meet NASA’s building-strength requirements in order to be deemed safe… and probably reward ICON with more money.
The company has already been testing builds with “simulated regolith” in a vacuum environment here on Earth.
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