Revealed: How the first homes on the Moon will be created

[yoda you can call me]

Revealed: How the first homes on the Moon will be created by robotic 3D printers

Mankind has taken one small step closer to colonising the Moon after the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed its latest plans to provide affordable housing – something we can’t even manage in London.

It’s 45 years since human beings first stepped on the rocky satellite, yet we’re still yet to solve the problem of how to cost-effectively get enough building materials up there to put together permanent – and safe – structures.

Now, thanks to the magic of 3D printing, experts say the first people could be living on the Moon in as little as 40 years.

The ESA’s latest video briefing shows more fleshed-out plans for how robotic 3D printers on wheels would, with a single unit, collect material from the surface of the Moon and convert it into a radiation- and meteor-resistant coating for human accommodation.

It is a while since the ESA set out its idea for transporting self-contained pod-like homes to the distant rock using individual rockets. Multiple pods would eventually link together to form larger “terraces” of structures, each with its own airlock and technical support module.

But the new release shows how “regolith”, the dusty material that coats the surface of the Moon, could be harnessed to coat the inflatable domes that would otherwise be vulnerable to the harsh off-Earth elements.


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[Shpongle]

Fucking great, looks straight out of Star Wars

[mdemaz]

I don't see the point where we could live anywhere else.

When it comes the time when the Sun starts to swell up, we gotta gtfo of the Solar System at least.

[DetroitSkills]

ill believe it when it happens

[boonim]

It bums me out to think that if we achieve any major space travel it will probably be after our time

What are you talking about? Hopefully, health permitting, we have a good 50 years to go! Not to mention research in gerontology and geriatrics may help us live healthily long past 100. (Hmm..better start a fitness routine just in case )

What burns me is the fact that I'm never going to have any money to go on any of these trips .

[yoda you can call me]

It bums me out to think that if we achieve any major space travel it will probably be after our time

What are you talking about? Hopefully, health permitting, we have a good 50 years to go! Not to mention research in gerontology and geriatrics may help us live healthily long past 100. (Hmm..better start a fitness routine just in case )

What burns me is the fact that I'm never going to have any money to go on any of these trips .

Was gonna mention that, we could be living a lot longer in our life time due to the recent advancements and breakthroughs in science, plus our ongoing knowledge to living a healthier lifestyle.

I do think that we should be focusing a lot more on space travel than we do now though. Most of the shit that they send into to space is for the purpose of looking back at Earth for one reason or another. I think i remember Obama cancelled something to do with Nasa a while ago due to the recession or something. We need to get our shit in order man

[boonim]

It bums me out to think that if we achieve any major space travel it will probably be after our time

What are you talking about? Hopefully, health permitting, we have a good 50 years to go! Not to mention research in gerontology and geriatrics may help us live healthily long past 100. (Hmm..better start a fitness routine just in case )

What burns me is the fact that I'm never going to have any money to go on any of these trips .

Not only do I not want to live past 100, but when I'm that damn old I don't know if it would even make sense at that point. We're just now trying to figure out how to get a handful of people to live in little huts on the moon. When I said "major space travel" I meant leaving this solar system type trip. It's probably going to be a while. We sent a probe to go to Pluto in 2006 or something and it's estimated to get there in like 2015 lol. We're pretty far off right now.

Perhaps you subscribe to this view: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/?

I see your point. But, amazing discoveries could happen overnight and we probably have no idea what kind of cutting-edge science people are working on. Or maybe there will be an accidental discovery! I wish I could travel to space at least once. It's possible now, but no money...