NASA is busy preparing humans to return to land on the Moon and even travel much further beyond to Mars. Beginning with The Artemis I mission, which began in 2022 with the successful uncrewed launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Artemis II is scheduled for next year with a planned crewed flight of the SLS and the Orion spacecraft. In 2026, a crewed landing on the surface of the Moon is planned, which would be the first American landing on the satellite since Apollo 17 in 1972.
As part of that mission, astronauts are scheduled to land on the Moon’s south pole and it will be the beginning of further plans for a long-term human settlement on the lunar surface. As part of the vision for the Moon, NASA is planning to mine lunar regolith, which is a layer of surface Moon rock in order to create structures there, including homes.
The plan is to create “fully outfitted facilities and buildings to support a permanent lunar settlement and vibrant space economy”. NASA is testing virtual versions of mining robots in computer simulations – internally nicknamed “Moon Tycoon”. The robot excavator will fly to the Moon “in the next several years”, with plans for it to mine “up to 10 metric tons of regolith”.
“This will be the first time excavating for mining operations, or in other words, where the intent is to actually use the resources,” NASA robotic engineer Jason Schuler said.
After the moon rock has been harvested, NASA can then start to build structures on the lunar surface.
This is a Class III structure, when the building is wholly manufactured on the Moon, from local resources. Class I and Class II structures involve building on or deployment from Earth. Once the rock has been harvested, it could then potentially be 3-D printed for NASA’s building needs. The Class III structures could also potentially be built on Mars.
The hope is that the excavating and building process wouldn’t only be used for homes but could be followed to build almost anything on the Moon and Mars, including towers, roads, launch pads, shelters and habitats. NASA has been simulating the process on computer to ensure it works. “We can excavate the regolith and use it as construction material,” Schuler explained.
