NASA has strengthened its relationship with ICON, an Austin, Texas-based provider of building technologies, in an effort to identify workable ways for constructing long-lasting structures on the moon. The business is renowned for constructing the first habitable 3D-printed house in the US.
According to a news statement, the space agency has now given ICON a $57.2 million contract to come up with ideas that may assist develop infrastructure such as landing pads, habitats, and roadways on the lunar surface.
Under the Artemis project, NASA seeks to supplement its long-term human exploration missions to the moon with a number of contracts with commercial parties. "Pushing this development forward with our commercial partners will create the capabilities we need for future missions," Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), said in a statement.
The new project is a continuation of ICON's work under a dual-use contract with the U.S. Airforce called Small Business Innovation Research, which is partially supported by NASA (SBIR). The initiative's earliest stages included exploring commonalities between Earth-based and off-Earth uses and extending the possibilities of 3D printing structures to be employed in space missions.
The development of ICON's Project Olympus construction system, which aims to use the resources on the lunar and Martian surfaces as building materials for extended missions, will now be the focus of the recently granted Phase III of SBIR.
"In order to explore other worlds, we need innovative new technologies adapted to those environments and our exploration needs," said Werkheiser.
The Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technologies (MMPACT) Project at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will in general be responsible for ICON's project.