Building houses on the moon. It sounds like madness, but if it's up to ESA it will actually happen in the future. The main purpose of the 'shelters' would be to conduct long-term research on the moon.
ESA has been experimenting with 3D-printing 'houses' with material from the moon since 2011. Back in 2016, ESA director Jan Woerner expressed ambition to create a 'lunar village'.
A proof of concept made with material from the universe, created in collaboration with various companies and organisations, seems to be a good stepping stone.
It is almost impossible for astronauts to stay on the moon for long periods of time. There is no atmosphere, meteorites can hit, not to mention radiation from the sun. A spaceship is a bit cramped to stay in for a long time and, besides, not many building materials can be taken along. Also, certain parts of the universe (and the moon itself) are more difficult to explore. These are some of the reasons why ESA is looking for ways to build on the moon to make it possible to stay there longer.
Dome
One such idea is a kind of inflatable dome, ESA researcher Johannes Gumpinger told the Radio 1 programme News and Co. "The dome is inflatable. We send it to the moon and blow it up there. Then we use lunar dust to build a protection around the dome with robotic 3D printers. The robot collects the dust and builds the protection layer by layer, from outside the dome. The dome itself is dome-shaped and 1 to 2 metres thick."
It sounds seemingly easy but of course it is not. "The structure of the protective layer has to be very sturdy to keep radiation and meteorites out. On the other hand, it should not be a material that needs a lot of glue because that would be difficult to carry around." ESA is therefore considering technology that uses radiation from the sun to melt the substance."
Proof of concept
There is now a proof of concept of a material that seems to work well in the 3D printer and has the right structure. "With this, we have shown that the principle works, but of course that does not mean we can deploy it tomorrow. More research is needed for that."
ESA director Woerner has also previously indicated that 3D printers could possibly also be used for on-site printing on the moon, perhaps using lunar soil, of telescopes. This would also allow the deep universe to be studied.
In the video below, also from 2016, Jan Woerner talks more about it:
By: Kelly Bakker
Source: ESA/News and Co.
