{"id":24552,"date":"2020-10-01T12:01:26","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T12:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=24552"},"modified":"2022-01-20T15:43:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T15:43:11","slug":"icon-3d-printing-on-the-moon-011020205","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/icon-3d-printing-on-the-moon-011020205\/","title":{"rendered":"ICON will 3D print infrastructure on the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space exploration has long been an unreachable dream for humankind. However, with technologies constantly advancing, science fiction is closer to becoming our new reality than ever. Today, ICON, an American startup specializing in advanced construction technologies, has announced that it was awarded a government contract – including funding from NASA – to begin research and development of a system that would enable additive construction<\/a> in space, more precisely, on the Moon.<\/p>\n

For ICON<\/a>, the journey to transform the construction sector began with the delivery of the first permitted 3D printed house in the US, back in 2018. Since then, the team has broken ground on the world\u2019s first 3D printed community in Mexico, completed a series of homes serving the chronically homeless in Austin, Texas and forged a partnership with the United States Marine Corps<\/a> and the Defense Innovation Unit. From those initiatives, one might conclude that ICON is rather keen on launching very ambitious projects. Their new mission? To make humanity a spacefaring civilization.<\/p>\n

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Image credits: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group<\/p><\/div>\n

Project Olympus: building a presence on the Moon<\/h3>\n

NASA has signaled that, through the Artemis program<\/a>, the Moon will be the first off-Earth site for sustainable surface exploration. Building a presence on the Moon requires more than rockets: for a permanent lunar presence to exist, robust structures will need to be built on the Moon that provide better thermal, radiation, and micrometeorite protection than metal or inflatable habitats can provide. From landing pads to habitats, these collective efforts are driven by the need to make humanity a spacefaring civilization.<\/p>

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\u201cBuilding humanity\u2019s first home on another world will be the most ambitious construction project in human history and will push science, engineering, technology, and architecture to literal new heights,<\/em>\u201d said Jason Ballard, Co-founder and CEO of ICON. \u201cNASA\u2019s investment in space-age technologies like this can not only help to advance humanity\u2019s future in space, but also to solve very real, vexing problems we face on Earth. We are honored to begin our research and development on ICON\u2019s \u201cProject Olympus\u201d and the \u201cOlympus Construction System<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Image credits: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group<\/p><\/div>\n

In partnership with NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, ICON will test lunar soil simulant with various processing and printing technologies. The tests will help design, develop, and demonstrate prototype elements for a possible future full-scale additive construction system that could print infrastructure on the Moon. For this project,\u00a0ICON has engaged two award-winning architecture firms as partners for the audacious project: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and SEArch+ (Space Exploration Architecture). SEArch+ has over a decade-long association with NASA and leading aerospace corporations, and BIG has worked on multiple concepts for the Moon and Mars in the past several years.<\/p>\n

Ballard, who is completing a masters degree in space resources, comments: \u201cFrom the very founding of ICON, we\u2019ve been thinking about off-world construction. It\u2019s a surprisingly natural progression if you are asking about the ways additive construction and 3D printing can create a better future for humanity.<\/em> I am confident that learning to build on other worlds will also provide the necessary breakthroughs to solve housing challenges we face on this world. These are mutually reinforcing endeavors. Sometimes, for the biggest problems, it becomes necessary to look up at the sky and not only down at our feet. It would be hard to overstate how difficult this will be, but the ICON team is up for the journey and delighted to undertake this monumental task with NASA, BIG and SEArch+.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n