Could the first lunar eclipse be printed in 3D with lunar dust?

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Written by By Rebecca Cairns

1972. was the last time a man set foot on the moon. Now, the moon is back on NASA’s orbit. This time it’s not just a visit to the group – they plan to stay.

With the Artemis missions starting next year, NASA aims to have astronauts on the moon by 2024 and expect a permanent lunar base by the end of the decade. This was the first campus ever built on an outdoor surface, and the challenges are unparalleled.
It would be expensive and time consuming to send a lot of building materials to the moon. But Texas-based startup ICON says it has a sci-fi solution – 3D printing a lunar base from moon dust.
ICON is working with NASA to develop a technology that can turn moon dust into a concrete-like material, said co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard. Moon dust, also known as lunar regolith, is the sand-like plateau that covers the lunar surface, formed from minerals and small pieces of glass formed over millions of years when meteoroids hit it. the moon. It’s sharp, rainy, and very clumsy – Apollo astronauts found it stick to everything, including their space settings. There is plenty of it, which means a large supply of raw materials if ICON is successful.
The BIG concept for Project Olympus includes buildings in the shape of a donut that can be built entirely with an ICON 3D printer.

The BIG concept for Project Olympus includes buildings in the shape of a donut that can be built entirely with an ICON 3D printer. Credit: Bjarke Ingels / ICON Group

The initiative has been dubbed Project Olympus after the most recognizable volcano in the solar system – aptly providing the mountain-sized challenge facing the team. But Ballard isn’t just shooting at the moon. By designing a lunar environment, he hopes to make building the Earth cleaner, faster and cheaper, too.

Olympus Project

ICON has been using 3D printing technology to build social housing in Mexico and Texas, since 2018. Using a concrete-based blend called lavacrete, the Vulcan printer can be around 500-feet square print in 24 hours.

But the moon is “a completely different world,” Ballard said. From Earth, it resembles a calm, smooth, silver orb but subject to high levels of radiation, violent earthquakes, extreme temperature movements and frequent strikes by micrometeorites that fall through its thin atmosphere, it saying.

And turning lunar dust into a building material is another big challenge. The team are experimenting with small samples of moon dust in a laboratory – working out how to change its state with a microwave, lasers and infrared light, while using “very little no additives, ”said Ballard.

The field of research in the lunar structure proposed by ICON is illuminated by elegant lights that resemble day and night on Earth, to help astronauts maintain a normal sleep-cycle.

The field of research in the lunar structure proposed by ICON is illuminated by elegant lights that resemble day and night on Earth, to help astronauts maintain a normal sleep-cycle. Credit: Bjarke Ingels / ICON Group

ICON worked with two architectural firms, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch +), to study the feasibility of 3D printing technology.

The team studied environments in real environments, including the McMurdo Station in Antarctica and the International Space Station, and used their findings to create a range of lunar design concepts, he said. Ballard.

The architects needed to consider how to create an environment that is safe as well as comfortable to live in, says Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG.

The proposal by SEArch + features a tall, multi-story structure with 3D printed protective sheets protecting a heart that would be built on Earth, while BIG designed a circular structure that could be built. printed entirely on the moon.

The BIG design incorporates a transparent water membrane padding the walls of the bedroom – “a good radiation insulator,” says Ingels – which gives astronauts extra protection while they sleep.

The radiation means that windows have to be kept so low so Ingels carefully chose where the only one in the building was – which is always opposite the Earth.

Think SEArch + on a basis

Think SEArch + a foundation “that allows astronauts to come and go from the surface frequently,” with landing pads, roads, sheds and habitats says co-founder Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman. Credit: SEArch + / ICON

An “double shell” structure and exterior lying work, which can be filled with scattered lunar dust, provide extra protection from radiation and meteorites, Ingels says.

In addition to accommodation and work for astronauts, the lunar base had to include landing pads, roads and storage sheds. Human presence in space has so far been “under engineering control”, Ingels says. With many businesses working together he hopes that the first permanent structure on the moon can be “ambitious” in design as well as engineering marvels.

Gateway to the constellation

NASA began exploring 3D printing as a potential space-building technology with the launch of the 3D Printed Habitats Competition in 2015. SEArch + and ICON participated in the initiative, with SEArch + puts first place for design for Mars House X.
With Artemis ‘missions launching next year, NASA’ s first step toward the lunar orbit is the “Gateway,” a space station in lunar orbit, said spokeswoman Clare Skelly. Astronauts live and work on the Gate and go to the moon, staying in their dominions for up to a week.
ICON’s 3D printer, Vulcan, draws the outline of the building one fold at a time. It can print up to 500 square feet in 24 hours.

ICON’s 3D printer, Vulcan, draws the outline of the building one fold at a time. It can print up to 500 square feet in 24 hours. Credit: ICON

Its goal, however, is a permanent foundation, from which the moon can be studied in more depth and technology for human survival in space can be tested. NASA wants to build facilities to hold four astronauts for up to a month, Skelly said. It is an essential first step to Mars – and beyond.

Skelly says it has not yet been decided whether the lunar campus will be built using 3D printing, but “NASA could provide additional funding to ICON” and could give the company the opportunity to test their technology on the lunar surface.

Using lunar technology on Earth

Ballard is optimistic about Earth’s potential at technology as well. He believes the results from Project Olympus could help solve the global housing crisis.

As a relatively new technology, there is little definitive data on the benefits of 3D printing in construction. However, a 2020 study suggests that it could reduce construction waste by 30% to 60%, labor costs by 50% to 80%, and construction time by 50% to 70% which would make a building cheaper, faster and more stable.
ICON’s first 3D construction project was a collaboration with a nonprofit New Story in Mexico, to build a social housing community for people who lost their homes in natural disasters.

ICON’s first 3D construction project was a collaboration with a nonprofit New Story in Mexico, to build a social housing community for people who lost their homes in natural disasters. Credit: Joshua Perez / ICON

While the technology is currently largely used on specific projects, Ballard hopes the potential use of “rawer, more direct, local materials” could provide more opportunities for 3D construction – which could be transformative for some of the remaining 1.6 billion people. need enough housing on Earth.

“It’s kind of a funny thought,” he says, “but it may turn out that the answers to our problems are on Earth on the moon or on Mars.”

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