NASA and ICON Unveil Project Olympus for Lunar Construction
3D-Printing and Lunar Regolith for Lunar Infrastructure
Moon-to-Mars: Paving the Way for Artemis Missions
WEB NASA and 3D-printing construction company ICON have announced a collaboration called Project Olympus, aiming to develop lunar infrastructure using 3D printing and lunar regolith, which is a type of soil composed of fragmented rock and dust on the Moon.
This project represents a significant step towards establishing sustained human presence on the Moon by providing a method for constructing landing pads, habitats, and roadways on the lunar surface. These constructions will support the Artemis missions, which aim to send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2025.
By utilizing lunar regolith as a construction material, ICON's 3D printing technology eliminates the need for transporting voluminous resources from Earth, reducing the cost and complexity of lunar construction.
Project Olympus is part of NASA's "Artemis NextSTEP-2 Appendix H" program, which focuses on developing technologies for sustainable exploration of the Moon and Mars.
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