Could the first monthly habitat be 3D printed with moon dust?

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Composed of By Rebecca Cairns

The last time a person stepped on the moon was in 1972. Now, the moon has returned to NASA’s space agenda. This time, the agency is not just visiting – it intends to stay.

With its Artemis missions starting next year, NASA aims to have astronauts on the moon in 2024 and anticipates a permanent lunar base by the end of the decade. It would be the first habitat ever built on an extraterrestrial surface, and the challenges are unprecedented.
Sending a large amount of construction materials per month would be costly and time consuming. But the start of ICON in Texas, says it has a scientific solution – 3D printing of a monthly base of the moon’s dust.
ICON is working with NASA to develop technology that can turn the moon’s dust into a concrete-like material, says co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard. Lunar dust, also known as lunar regolith, is the sand-like soil that covers the moon’s surface, made up of minerals and small pieces of glass created over millions of years as meteoroids hit the moon. He is sharp, abrasive and extremely sticky – Apollo astronauts found him stuck to everything, including their space suits. There are a lot of them, which means there is a huge amount of raw material if ICON is successful.
The BIG concept for Project Olympus includes donut-shaped buildings that could be built entirely with the ICON 3D printer.

The BIG concept for Project Olympus includes donut-shaped buildings that could be built entirely with the ICON 3D printer. Credit: Bjarke Ingels Group / ICON

The initiative is called the Olympus Project, after the largest known volcano in the solar system – which adequately conveys the challenge of mountain size facing the team. But Ballard doesn’t just shoot on the moon. By designing a monthly habitat, he hopes to make construction on Earth cleaner, faster and cheaper as well.

The Olympus project

ICON has been using 3D printing technology to build social housing in Mexico and Texas since 2018. Using a concrete-based mixture called a washing machine, its Vulcan printer can print about 500 square meters in 24 hours.

But the moon is a “radically different world,” says Ballard. From Earth, it looks like a clear, smooth, silver globe, but it is subject to high levels of radiation, violent lunar earthquakes, extreme temperature fluctuations and frequent blows by micrometeorites that collapse through its thin atmosphere, he says.

And turning the dust of the moon into a building material is another huge challenge. The team is experimenting with small monthly dust samples in a lab – figuring out how to change their condition with microwaves, lasers and infrared light, while using “little or no additives,” says Ballard.

The research area in the lunar structure proposed by ICON is illuminated with intelligent lights that simulate day and night on Earth, to help astronauts maintain a normal sleep-wake cycle.

The research area in the lunar structure proposed by ICON is illuminated with intelligent lights that simulate day and night on Earth, to help astronauts maintain a normal sleep-wake cycle. Credit: Bjarke Ingels Group / ICON

ICON has worked with two architecture firms, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch +), to explore the possibilities of 3D printing technology.

The team studied habitats in extreme environments, including McMurdo Station in Antarctica and the International Space Station, and used their findings to create a series of monthly design concepts, says Ballard.

Architects had to consider how to create a safe and comfortable environment in which to live, says BIG founder Bjarke Ingels.

The SEArch + proposal features a tall, multi-storey structure with 3D-printed protection petals protecting a core that would be built on Earth, while BIG designed a circular structure that could be printed entirely on the Moon .

The BIG design includes a visible membrane of water that covers the walls of the bedroom – “a good insulator against radiation,” says Ingels – which will give astronauts extra protection while sleeping.

Radiation means that the windows must be kept to a minimum, so Ingels carefully chose the location of the only building – which always faces the Earth.

SEArch + imagined a base

SEArch + has envisioned a base “that will allow astronauts to come and go frequently from the surface,” with landing platforms, roads, warehouses and habitats, says co-founder Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman. Credit: SEArch + / ICON

A “double” structure and external grids, which can be packed with loose monthly dust, provide additional protection against radiation and meteorites, says Ingels.

In addition to living and working spaces for astronauts, the monthly base should incorporate landing platforms, roads and storage depots. Human presence in space has been “engineered” so far, says Ingels. With several industries working together, he hopes the first permanent structure on the moon can be “aspirational” in design, as well as an engineering miracle.

It carries her to the galaxy

NASA began exploring 3D printing as a possible space construction technology with the launch of the 3D-printed habitat contest in 2015. Both SEArch + and ICON took part in the initiative, with SEArch + leading the way in designing Mars X.
With the launch of Artemis missions next year, NASA’s first step into a lunar habitat is the “Gateway,” a space station in orbit, says spokeswoman Clare Skelly. The astronauts will live and work on the Gateway and commute to the moon, staying in the landers for up to a week.
The ICON 3D printer, Vulcan, draws the outline of the building one by one. It can print up to 500 square meters in 24 hours.

The ICON 3D printer, Vulcan, draws the outline of the building one by one. It can print up to 500 square meters in 24 hours. Credit: ICON

However, its goal is a permanent basis from which to explore the moon in depth and test the technology of human survival in space. NASA wants to build facilities to house four astronauts for up to a month, says Skelly. It is an essential first step towards Mars – and not only.

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

Using the technology of the moon on Earth

Ballard is also optimistic about the terrestrial potential of technology. He believes the results of the Olympus project 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 analysis notes 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 makes the building cheaper, faster and more durable.
ICON's first 3D construction project was a collaboration with New Story nonprofit in Mexico to build a social housing community for people who lost their homes in the event of a natural disaster.

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

While the technology is widely used in custom projects right now, Ballard hopes the ability to use “local, raw, more direct materials” could open up more opportunities for 3D construction – which could be transformative for some of us. the 1.6 billion people who need adequate housing on Earth.

“It’s kind of funny thinking,” he says, “but it can be proven that the answers to our problems on Earth are on the moon or Mars.”

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