China wants to build buildings with 3D printing technology on the Moon. The idea is part of the planning of the three lunar missions that it hopes to launch this decade, with the intention of exploring the possibility of inhabiting the satellite in the long term.
One of these three missions is Chang’e 8, which would take off closer to 2028. Its objective will be to search for reusable resources on the Moon that they could be used to build, for example, a lunar base. For this, the space probe will carry out on-site analysis of the mineral composition of the soils and confirm whether technologies such as 3D printing can be implemented, the official newspaper reported. china daily.
In this Chinese mission to the Moon, a robot would go in charge of manufacturing “lunar soil bricks”. They call him “super mason”. It is a prototype similar to a six-legged insect, which could put these printed bricks together as if they were Lego pieces. “If we want to stay on the moon for a long time, we must set up stations using the moon’s own materials,” said Wu Weiren, a scientist with the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
China and its journey to conquer the Moon
3D printing has already been considered by different space teams around the world. Airbusfor example, announced last year that it would send in 2023 a 3D printer for metal fabrication to the International Space Station. It is a joint project with the European Space Agency.
This technology would greatly reduce exploration costs. It would allow space missions to produce or replace the items they need in space, instead of having to launch them from Earth.
China made its first unmanned trip to the Moon in 2013. Three years ago, it launched the Chang’e 5 mission — the name is a reference to the mythical Chinese goddess of the Moon — which allowed them to collect their first lunar soil samples. . His great goal is to be able to carry an astronaut by 2030.
The space race stepped on the accelerator
Not only China is going after the Moon. This month, NASA and the Canadian space agency announced the names of the four astronauts who will join Artemis IIthe first human flyby of the moon in decades.
The mission will involve Christina Hammock Koch, the first woman to orbit the Moon, and Victor Glover, the first black person. He will be the first manned moon landing since Apollo 17 accomplished it in 1972. Its takeoff date is scheduled for December 2025.
NASA will use the spacecraft Orion, which last year completed a test trip around the Moon that lasted almost 26 days. The group of astronauts is expected to be around for a little less than a week. Two of them plan to carry out up to four moonwalks.