Saturday, February 2, 2013

Building A Lunar Base

The European Space Agency is partnering with the engineering firm building Spaceport America in New Mexico to explore using 3D printing technology to construct a lunar base.

The projected base would be a four-person outpost located in the Moon's southern polar region, where water ice and perpetual sunlight are both available.  The structure would be centered on an inflatable module, but then the 3D printing technology would be used to process lunar regolith into material that would be used for building out the base, including covering the habitat areas with layers of dirt to provide radiation protection for the crew.

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