MessageToEagle.com - Setting up a lunar base could be made much simpler by using a 3D printer to build
it from local materials. Industrial partners including renowned architects Foster + Partners have joined with
ESA to test the feasibility of 3D printing using lunar soil.
“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.”
Foster + Partners 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.
Click on image to enlarge
Title Multi-dome base being constructed
Multi-dome lunar base being constructed, based on the 3D printing concept. Once assembled, the inflated domes are covered
with a layer of 3D-printed lunar regolith by robots to help protect the occupants against space radiation and micrometeoroids. Credits: ESA
A hollow closed-cell structure – reminiscent of bird bones – provides a good combination of strength and weight.
The base’s design was guided in turn by the properties of 3D-printed lunar soil, with a 1.5 tonne building block produced as a demonstration.
“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.”
“As a practice, we are used to designing for extreme climates on Earth and exploiting the environmental benefits of using
local, sustainable materials,” remarked Xavier De Kestelier of Foster + Partners Specialist Modelling Group.
“Our lunar habitation follows a similar logic.”
The UK’s Monolite supplied the D-Shape printer, with a mobile printing array of nozzles on a 6 m frame to spray a
binding solution onto a sand-like building material.
3D ‘printouts’ are built up layer by layer – the company more typically uses its printer to create sculptures and is
working on artificial coral reefs to help preserve beaches from energetic sea waves.
Click on image to enlarge
Lunar base made with 3D printing
Setting up a future lunar base could be made much simpler by using a 3D printer to build it from local materials. Industrial partners including renowned architects Foster+Partners have joined with ESA to test the feasibility of 3D printing using lunar soil.
The base is first unfolded from a tubular module that can be easily transported by space rocket. An inflatable dome then extends from one end of this cylinder to provide a support
structure for construction. Layers of regolith are then built up over the dome by a robot-operated 3D printer (right)
to create a protective shell. Credits: ESA
“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.
1.5 tonne building block produced as a demonstration
This 1.5 tonne building block was produced as a demonstration of 3D printing techniques using
lunar soil. The design is based on a hollow closed-cell structure – reminiscent of bird bones – to
give a good combination of strength and weight. Credits: ESA
“Then for our structural ‘ink’ we apply a binding salt which converts material to a stone-like solid.
“Our current printer builds at a rate of around 2 m per hour, while our next-generation design should attain 3.5 m
per hour, completing an entire building in a week.”
MessageToEagle.com - Setting up a lunar base could be made much simpler by using a 3D printer to build
it from local materials. Industrial partners including renowned architects Foster + Partners have joined with
ESA to test the feasibility of 3D printing using lunar soil.
