The NY Times discussed the NASA funding of Icon to send 3D printers to the moon for the construction of buildings. NASA scientists are currently working to perfect a replica of lunar concrete. In the first half of 2024, NASA plans to test ICON’s printers. “If you can survive our [vacuum] chambers, then you’re very likely to survive space,” said Victor Pritchett, director of experimental fluids and environmental test branch for Marshall.
In 2022, NASA awarded a $57.2 million contract to ICON, a 3D printing company based in Austin, Texas. The contract runs through 2028.
They have already 3D Printed a 1700 square foot Mars building at NASA but it was not in simulated vacuum.
The construction technology startup. Icon, raised $185 million in a funding round that closed in February, bringing its total funding to $451 million. Icon was estimated to be worth $2 billion at the last funding round.
Icon debuted America’s first permitted 3D-printed home in 2018, just one year after the company was founded. October, 2021, it announced a partnership with homebuilding giant Lennar to develop a community of 100 3D-printed homes in Austin. The first home in the project debuted in March, 2022, featuring the 2,000-square-foot House Zero and a 350-square-foot guest house, which took just eight days to build with the firm’s Vulcan technology.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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How are they going to simulate the moon’s lesser gravity?
First of all, I don’t know that they need to. Second, they can fly a scale model or components in a “Vomit Comet”.