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NASA has the ambition to return to the Moon by 2024. The US space agency has indicated that, through the Artemis program, the Moon will be the first off-Earth site for sustainable exploration of the surface.
In this perspective, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and the 3D printed construction company ICON have revealed that they are working together on the “Olympus Project”, which aims to develop a space construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon. If all goes according to plan, the show will finally help humanity settle on the Moon and Mars.
The architecture firm and SEArch + (Space Exploration Architecture) were recruited for the project by ICON after receiving a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the government, which includes funding from NASA.
The Olympus Project aims to develop a way to create a 3D printed infrastructure for living on the Moon using material found on its surface. BIG will play a central role in creating these lunar habitats. According to the company, its design will be a sustainable lunar habitat, the first human foray into extraterrestrial construction with robust structures that provide better thermal, radiation and micrometeorite protection than metal or inflatable habitats can offer.
From runways to habitats, these collective efforts in conjunction with NASA and SEArch + are driven by the need to make humanity a space civilization, according to the BIG press release.
“To explain the power of architecture, “to shape” is the Danish word for design, which literally means to shape what has not yet been shaped. This becomes fundamentally clear as we venture beyond Earth and begin to imagine how we are going to build and live in entirely new worlds. With ICON, we are pioneers in new frontiers, both from a material, technological and environmental point of view. The answers to our challenges on Earth could very well be found on the Moon.. “Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.
The space agency is working, through its Artemis manned lunar exploration program, to establish a long-term human presence on and around the Moon. Achieving this will require extensive use of lunar resources, including ice water (for life support and rocket fuel) and lunar soil (for building materials), NASA officials said. Having the added ability to use 3D printing to make life easier for astronauts on the Moon is an opportunity to seize.
