The NASA Artemis Program seeks, in the first instance, to take the first woman and the next man to the Moon. But it’s only part of the plan: ultimately, the goal is the construction of bases on the satellite and, in the more distant future, on Mars, that serve for the deeper exploration of space.
And how will you build your lunar and martian laboratories? For this he hired the company icon, which will develop projects using resources from the natural satellite and the red planet. The deal is called SPIR Phase III, as reported by NASA in a press release.
The contract with ICON runs through 2028 and is worth $57.2 million, NASA reported this week.
Niki Wekheiser, director of technology maturation in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), spoke about it.
“To explore other worlds, we need innovative new technologies tailored to those environments and our exploration needs,” said the executive. “Drive this development with our trading partners will create the capabilities we need for future missions.”
The key to everything, according to the North American aerospace agency, is to take advantage of the resources that the Moon and Mars provide.
From building houses on Earth to making bases on the Moon and Mars for NASA
The contract with ICON, a company based in Austin, Texas, indicates that it will work with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. It will do so within the framework of the Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technologies (MMPACT) project.
According to Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, “To shift the space exploration paradigm from ‘there and back’ to ‘there to stay,’ will require robust, resilient, and broadly capable systems that can use the local resources of the Moon and other planetary bodies.”
“The end result of this contract will be humanity’s first construction on another world, and that will be a very special achievement.” Ballard stressed.
ICON is known for its 3D printing technology for building homes on Earth. In 2018, he delivered the first 3D printed house in the United States; Since then, he has worked for the US Army, as well as civil projects in his country and in Mexico.
Now the challenge is to do it, but in outer space.