NASA is aiming to support surface construction on the moon within ten years.
Engineers with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration are on track to support surface construction on the moon within a decade, says Robert P. Mueller, senior technologist in the advanced projects development in the surface systems office for engineering and technology at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
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“Within the next two to three years we will build a dome in the lab; within five years we will be ready for a field test, and within 10 years we will be able to put something into space,” says Mueller. “It all depends on level of support,” he adds. “We’re hoping the commercial side develops as well on Earth, and that we can leverage that, [but] eventually we will have civil engineering in space.
NASA’s plan envisions robotic construction of surface facilities using indigenous materials and solar powered lasers for 3D printing. Mueller’s team is developing the equipment, tools and techniques to perform surface construction on either the moon or Mars to support gradually lengthening visits by humans.
Mueller says there are three main challenges to overcome. One is to develop the 3d additive printing machine and to be able to control the tool path and the positioning of the tool head. “That is getting close,” he says. Another is to develop the process to fuse by laser sintering the abundant regolith, or soil and rock that litters the lunar surface, into useful structural configurations. The use of indigenous materials helps overcome the third challenge, which is the very limited payload capacity of ships traveling from the earth to the jobsite.
“在地球上，您使用水，波特兰水泥和骨料制成水基混凝土，但是在太空中，我们需要创建根本没有任何粘合剂的混凝土材料。然后，我们可以开始在太空中建立土木工程结构。”
打印机的机制和控制措施是与南加州大学研究员Behrokh Koshnevis共同开发的，他一直在创建设备和技术，他称之为轮廓工艺，以使用低雪橇，快速固化的水性水性混凝土来打印建筑物。月球打印机将以相同的方式工作，除非打印头将是指将束将雷蒙融合到结构中的激光器。
他补充说：“硬件非常可行。”“这种3D添加剂结构是使用地球上正常的快速固化混凝土进行的。”但是，关于激光烧结的问题仍然存在。“低重力并不重要，真空吸尘器会有所作为，但主要是温度问题。月球土壤烧结在约800 C.我认为我们可以证明我们可以在地球上做到这一点。只要我们在行星表面上有一定的重力，我们就应该能够在那里做到这一点。”
穆勒说，美国宇航局的建筑计划旨在克服几个问题。一个大问题是航天器着陆的火箭排气造成的。需要大型火箭来渡轮并提供建造居住所需的设备。但是，火箭越大，速度降低了触地得分所需的爆炸越重，以及它在表面上会产生的火山口越大，从而产生了飞船降落和倒塌的风险。
NASA打算通过降落机器人建筑设备并从上方轨道上的航天器来定向来解决这一问题。第一个任务是建造一个降落垫，然后是道路和护堤，以使火箭从地面爆炸，然后避开庇护所，以保护设备，最终是人。
Field trials of NASA’s system for 3D laser printing will start in five years, probably using volcanic soil in Hawaii as a stand-in for lunar soil, says Mueller. “Volcanic ash is very similar to the regolith in a planetary environment,” he says.“
穆勒说，第一个月球基地的遗址将在北极或南极，那里的阳光是连续的，与地球不同，温度温和较温和，较少会受到巨大的波动。水也被发现是冰块锁在土壤中，这是NASA计划的另一个关键要素。
Russia announced in May that it plans to start constructing a lunar base at the south pole by 2030, although engineering details were not released with the announcement.
