NASA Tests 3D Printer That Uses Moon Dust As Construction Material For Future Missions

NASA launched new scientific equipment, Redwire's 3D printer, to the International Space Station (ISS) for the on-demand construction of lunar structures

Written By

Vidyashree S

Credit: TWITTER

NASA engineers have taken a step ahead in using technology to test the materials on the moon. In a recent study, Northrop Grumman Sygnus carried a 3D printer that uses moon dust to make solid material and arrived at the International Space Station (ISS). 

According to the Universe Today report, the agency sent a 3D printer to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Redwire Regolith Print (RRP) project to use readily available materials on the moon to make what is required instead of having to haul lots of heavy equipment all the way from Earth.

The space agency informed that RRP was designed to enable the use of regolith including dust, broken rocks, and other materials found on the surface of extraterrestrial objects for the on-demand construction of lunar structures. The project was launched with the Made In Space Manufacturing Device (ManD) 3D printer that was already onboard the ISS.

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NASA said, "The primary objective of performing the print operations is to successfully demonstrate the manufacturing process capability in microgravity. The secondary objective of the print operations is to produce material samples for scientific analysis".

Considering the regolith-based 3D printing in microgravity, to further under the future missions to the moon and Mars, NASA said, "Such technology could eventually be used to construct habitats, landing pads, and other structures for future exploration missions using on-site materials, rather than having to bring along all the raw materials for such construction". 

Further explaining the use of 3D printing projects on the earth's surface, NASA informed, "Development of infrastructure to improve quality of life in remote and undeveloped areas and on-site emergency construction during natural disaster response."

The Redwire Regolith Print project

Redwire’s Chief Technology Officer Michael Snyder explained the project and said, “The Redwire Regolith Print project is a tech demo of on-orbit additive manufacturing using regolith simulating feedstock material".

Snyder further said, “This represents a critical step in developing sustainable manufacturing capabilities for lunar surfaces that will ultimately establish a permanent human presence off-earth by utilizing available resources with adaptive systems. So this is really exciting for the future and hopefully, something like this gets eventually deployed to the moon".