{"id":216693,"date":"2025-05-14T01:48:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T15:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=861494"},"modified":"2025-05-14T01:48:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T15:48:22","slug":"nasa-enables-construction-technology-for-moon-and-mars-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=216693","title":{"rendered":"NASA Enables Construction Technology for Moon and Mars Exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"
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5 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"icon-nasa-chapea-mars<\/a><\/figure>
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ICON\u2019s next generation Vulcan construction system 3D printing a simulated Mars habitat for NASA\u2019s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) missions.<\/div>\n
ICON<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

One of the keys to a sustainable human presence on distant worlds is using local, or in-situ, resources which includes building materials for infrastructure such as habitats, radiation shielding, roads, and rocket launch and landing pads. NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate is leveraging its portfolio of programs and industry opportunities to develop in-situ, resource capabilities to help future Moon and Mars explorers build what they need. These technologies have made exciting progress for space applications as well as some impacts right here on Earth. <\/p>\n

The Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) project, funded by NASA\u2019s Game Changing Development program and managed at the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is exploring applications of large-scale, robotic 3D printing technology for construction on other planets. It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but demonstrations using simulated lunar and Martian surface material, known as regolith, show the concept could become reality. <\/p>\n

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Lunar 3D printing prototype.<\/div>\n
Contour Crafting<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

With its partners in industry and academic institutions, MMPACT is developing processing technologies for lunar and Martian construction materials. The binders for these materials, including water, could be extracted from the local regolith to reduce launch mass. The regolith itself is used as the aggregate, or granular material, for these concretes. NASA has evaluated these materials for decades, initially working with large-scale 3D printing pioneer, Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis, a professor of civil, environmental and astronautical engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.  <\/p>\n

Khoshnevis developed techniques for large-scale extraterrestrial 3D printing under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. One of these processes is Contour Crafting, in which molten regolith and a binding agent are extruded from a nozzle to create infrastructure layer by layer. The process can be used to autonomously build monolithic structures like radiation shielding and rocket landing pads. <\/p>\n

Continuing to work with the NIAC program, Khoshnevis also developed a 3D printing method called selective separation sintering, in which heat and pressure are applied to layers of powder to produce metallic, ceramic, or composite objects which could produce small-scale, more-precise hardware. This energy-efficient technique can be used on planetary surfaces as well as in microgravity environments like space stations to produce items including interlocking tiles and replacement parts. <\/p>\n

While NASA\u2019s efforts are ultimately aimed at developing technologies capable of building a sustainable human presence on other worlds, Khoshnevis is also setting his sights closer to home. He has created a company called Contour Crafting Corporation that will use 3D printing techniques advanced with NIAC funding to fabricate housing and other infrastructure here on Earth.  <\/p>\n

Another one of NASA\u2019s partners in additive manufacturing, ICON of Austin, Texas, is doing the same, using 3D printing techniques for home construction on Earth, with robotics, software, and advanced material.  <\/p>\n

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