
Designs Unveiled for a 3D Printed Moon Base
Foster and Partners, a London based architecture firm, has unveiled its
designs for a hypothetical moon base, constructed using large scale,
robot-operated 3D printers and raw materials found on the Moon. Using regolith,
the powdery substance popularly known as “lunar soil,” Monolite UK’s
D-shape 3D printers would be able to construct a habitable facility on the
Moon’s surface large enough to accommodate up to four people, with the option
of adding extensions.
Image Credit: Foster and
Partners
In a recent
press release, Xavier De Kestelier, a partner in the firm's specialist
modeling group, said:
"As a practice, we are used to designing for extreme climates on Earth
and exploiting the environmental benefits of using local, sustainable
materials. It has been a fascinating and unique design process, which has been
driven by the possibilities inherent in the material."
The project, a collaboration between the firm, the European Space Agency,
and Italian space engineering firm Alta SpA, isn’t the first to capitalize on
the benefits of 3D printing technology. Just last week, Deep
Space Industries announced tentative launch dates of their FireFly
spacecraft, which would work in tandem with DSI’s 3D printing Micro Gravity
Foundry, to mine asteroids for manufacturing materials.
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