Perhaps the greatest aspiration of the billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk is to guide humanity to Mars and beyond.
His efforts with SpaceX, focused especially on recent Starship enhancements, center on enabling interplanetary travel and colonization.
But the things that go in hand with that colonization effort — roads, buildings, landing pads, etc. — rely on advanced building techniques that construction-tech firm Icon is in the midst of perfecting.
Related: Elon Musk shares exciting updates about the future of interplanetary travel
The company last year was awarded a $57.2 million NASA contract for its Project Olympus, a specialized construction system designed to turn the surface of the moon, as well as other planets, into usable infrastructure.
"The final deliverable of this contract will be humanity’s first construction on another world, and that is going to be a pretty special achievement," Icon Co-Founder and Chief Executive Jason Ballard said at the time.
The issue with going to other planets with the intention of staying longer term, Ballard told 60 Minutes on Sunday, is one of cost.
To bring an object roughly the size of a small rock from Earth to the surface of the moon currently costs around $1 million, Ballard said, making the idea of shipping construction materials and equipment there an expensive one.
"We have to learn to live off the land," he said, noting that scientists have to learn how to build infrastructure not only on the moon but with it.
More SpaceX:
- Elon Musk says SpaceX Starship is ready to launch; regulators don't agree
- Elon Musk is frustrated about a major SpaceX roadblock
- Investor Says $150 Billion SpaceX Valuation Seems Too Good to Be True
Space-construction firm Icon's robotic system
To do that, Icon has invented a robotic system that acts as an evolution of 3D-printing technology. It uses a laser operating at around 1,500 degrees C. (2,732 degrees F.) to melt the dust coating the moon's surface (called regolith) into super-hard construction material that can then be layered into buildings, roads, launch pads and landing pads.
The company is currently in a testing phase, trialing its tech on simulated regolith and sending the results to NASA for further testing.
"Building a sustainable presence on the moon requires more than rockets," Icon said. "For a sustained lunar presence, robust infrastructure will need to be built on the Moon that [provides] better thermal, radiation and micrometeorite protection."
Related: Why Elon Musk's SpaceX is a major driver for the space industry
Icon delivered its first 3D-printed house (on Earth) in 2018 and has since worked to expand 3D-printed homes in the U.S. and Mexico. In 2021, the company was awarded a subcontract to work with NASA to deliver a 3D-printed habitat for Mars.
“To change the space exploration paradigm from ‘there and back again’ to ‘there to stay,’ we’re going to need robust, resilient and broadly capable systems that can use the local resources of the moon and other planetary bodies," Ballard said.
Get investment guidance from trusted portfolio managers without the management fees. Sign up for Action Alerts PLUS now.
