NASA plans to build HOUSE on the moon by 2040, which could be the first “Airbnb” for civilians outside Earth

NASA is about to create an Airbnb that is out of this world.

The American space agency has awarded a construction technology company $60 million to build a house on the moon by 2040, intended not only for astronauts but also for average civilians.

The plan is to send a giant 3D printer to the moon and use lunar concrete made from rocks, mineral fragments and dust to layer the structure onto the surface.

NASA is also working with universities and private companies to build doors, tiles and furniture for the lunar home.

The agenda includes establishing a facility on Mars for space heroes who will one day live on the Red Planet.

The plans are still at a very early stage, with only renderings from 2022 available to paint a picture of what the house could look like – the idea could change over the next decade

The plans are still at a very early stage, with only renderings from 2022 available to paint a picture of what the house could look like – the idea could change over the next decade.

And NASA doesn’t say how much it would charge civilians for their lunar getaway.

Austin-based ICON, which won the NASA contract in 2022, is leveraging its 3D printing expertise on Earth and building luxury homes layer by layer with its system, The Vulcan.

The technology lays out a mixture of cement, sand and water as a filament.

The filament is essentially an ink that comes out of the printer like thick ribbons stacked on top of each other.

All components of the house – for example walls and roof – are printed separately and then put together.

The idea is to send a 3D printer to the moon, which will layer the structure out of lunar concrete

The technology lays out a mixture of cement, sand and water as a filament. The filament is essentially an ink that comes out of the printer like thick ribbons stacked on top of each other

ICON said the infrastructure needs to better protect heat, radiation and micrometeorites

The printer can create objects in just 48 hours.

ICON has been 3D printing homes since 2018 and has built over 100 in North Austin.

Homes built this way are becoming increasingly popular because they can be erected quickly, and builders say they could solve America’s housing crisis.

And NASA believes 3D printed houses could be the next stage of its lunar mission.

Raymond Clinton, 71, deputy director of the Science and Technology Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, told the New York Times that he won’t see average Americans living on the lunar surface in his lifetime, but hopefully he will for future generations.

“I wish I was there to see it,” he told the New York Times.

NASA is also working with universities and private companies to build doors, tiles and furniture for the lunar home.

In the middle of the West Texas desert, a $1 million neighborhood of 3-D printed homes from ICON is for sale

“When we talk about a sustainable human presence, what that means to me is that there is a settlement on the moon and that people live and work on the moon all the time.

“What that could be is only left to the imagination of the entrepreneurs.”

ICON shared the infrastructure must better protect heat, radiation and micrometeorites.

NASA must first build landing pads for the rockets to carry the 3D printer to the lunar surface.

These pads will be located away from habitats to mitigate dust during landing and takeoff.

Jason Ballard, co-founder and CEO of ICON, said: “To change the paradigm of space exploration from ‘there and back’ to ‘there to stay’, we need robust, resilient and generally capable systems that can take advantage of this capability. “ the local resources of the Moon and other planetary bodies.

ICON plans to test its printer next February at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to see how it handles the vacuum conditions and radiation levels in space.

But it all comes down to when NASA builds the landing sites on the moon.

NASA is expected to launch the second phase of its Artemis mission in 2024, sending astronauts around the moon.

Then, in either 2025 or 2026, the space agency will put humans on the moon again as part of the Artemis 3 mission.