NASA’s new ambitious technology aims to build structures using natural resources from the moon.
When a spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) it was carrying new NASA technology. A 3D printer that uses moon dust to make solid materials.
Redwire Regolith Print (RRP) is the company behind the printing system. This was to revolutionise missions to the moon by enabling the creation of equipment on the moon itself. This was better than having to continually fly out heavy, and very expensive, loads.
Michael Snyder, Chief Technology Officer of Redwire said,
“The Redwire Regolith Print mission is an important step for proving these advanced manufacturing processes and ultimately accelerating NASA’s exploration timeline to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon.”
Research into moon dust or “regolith”, as it is known scientifically, has been ongoing for many years. This in combination with 3D research has cleared a new path in space technology. Scientists now are about to test its ability to produce under zero-gravity conditions onboard the ISS.
How Is It Done?
As real samples of moon dust are rare, the printer will use a human-made “moon stimulant”, a material similar enough in make-up to lunar regolith to allow testing. RRP mentions that the device can be currently used to create small fixtures and parts. They also added that it could potentially print larger parts like landing pads and roads on the lunar surface.
NASA has high ambitions for the technology. It could be used to streamline the process of humans becoming interplanetary. The space agency has said it plans to look further into the potential for 3D printing habitats on Mars.
Snyder said,
“This represents a critical step in developing sustainable manufacturing capabilities for lunar surfaces that will ultimately establish a permanent human presence off-earth by utilizing available resources with adaptive systems. So this is really exciting for the future and hopefully, something like this gets eventually deployed to the moon”.
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