How the first homes on the Moon will be created by robotic 3D printers

THE first humans could be living on the Moon in as little as 40 years, thanks to the magic of 3D printing. But just how will it work?

COULD astronauts one day be printing rather than building a base on the Moon?

Forty-five years after the first manned mission to the Moon on July 20, 1969, scientists are now one step closer to building a 3D lunar base there.

Once the plan is realised, it will be one giant leap for mankind.

In 2013 the European Space Agency (ESA), working with industrial partners, proved that 3D printing using lunar material was feasible in principle.

Since then, work has continued to investigate the technique.

In October, more than 350 experts came together for a two-day Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications workshop at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

They discussed the potential of 3D printing — also known as additive manufacturing — to transform the way the space industry operates and begin preparing common standards for its use.

One small step ... An artist impression of a 3D-print of a lunar base on the Moon. Pic: ESA

Soon the agency is due to investigate a new lunar 3D printing method, harnessing concentrated sunlight to melt regolith rather than using a binding liquid.

Regolith is a layer of loose material covering solid rock. It includes dust, soil, broken rock, and other materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestrial planets and moons.

But how might lunar 3D printing one day be used in practice?

Foster+Partners, contributing architectural concepts for the original study, put together an outline of a hypothetical mission to 3D-print an entire a lunar base.

Out of this world ... The ‘catenary’ dome design with a cellular structured wall to shield against micrometeoroids and space radiation. Pic: ESA

They devised a weight-bearing ‘catenary’ dome design with a cellular structured wall to shield against micrometeoroids and space radiation, incorporating a pressurised inflatable to shelter astronauts.

“Terrestrial 3D printing technology has produced entire structures,” said Laurent Pambaguian, heading the project for ESA.

“Our industrial team investigated if it could similarly be employed to build a lunar habitat.”

“3D printing offers a potential means of facilitating lunar settlement with reduced logistics from Earth,” added Scott Hovland of ESA’s human spaceflight team.

“The new possibilities this work opens up can then be considered by international space agencies as part of the current development of a common exploration strategy.”

One giant leap ... A lunar base is now firmly on the drawing board.

The UK’s Monolite supplied the printer, with a mobile printing array of nozzles on a 6-metre frame to spray a binding solution onto a sand-like building material.

The 3D ‘printouts’ are then built up layer by layer.

“First, we needed to mix the simulated lunar material with magnesium oxide. This turns it into ‘paper’ we can print with,” explained Monolite founder Enrico Dini.

The rim of Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole was chosen for the base location.

The Moon’s rotation is such that the Sun only grazes its poles at low angles.

The result is a near-constant ‘peak of eternal light’ along the rim of Shackleton Crater, beside regions of permanent shadow.

Building in the vicinity of such a site would offer plentiful solar power, and relief from the extremes of heat and cold found across the rest of the Moon.

In reality, any lunar base remains firmly on the drawing board, but each small step forward in research makes future lunar colonisation a little more feasible.