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NASA and AI SpaceFactory’s vaulted lunar outpost will be 3D printed by autonomous robots

2022-07-01T12:09:00-04:00

AI SpaceFactory and the NASA Kennedy Space Center have unveiled the design of LINA, a 3D printed structure intended to become a lunar outpost. Designed to be constructed by autonomous robots on the Moon's south pole, the scheme is defined by Romanesque arches that can withstand high compressive loads with minimal material.

Video via AI SpaceFactory on YouTube

LINA’s structural concept will be 3D printed using an Earth-sourced polymer and lunar regolith. Unlike conventional 3D printing where layers are added parallel to the ground, LINA will be 3D printed at a 60-degree angle to allow construction of the vaulted roof. The arches will be topped with 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) of lunar regolith to provide protection from radiation, micrometeorites, lunar seismic activity, and extreme thermal swings.

Image via AI SpaceFactory

The outpost’s location near the rim of the Shackleton crater on the lunar south pole offers near-continuous sunlight on the crater’s peaks, which the team will exploit...

"Moving to Mars" at UK Design Museum highlights multi-sensory space design

2019-10-17T17:00:00-04:00

The exhibition features immersive environments, about 200 objects including contributions from NASA, the European Space Agency and SpaceX; NASA's 3D-Printed Mars Habitat Challenge winners, AI SpaceFactory; robotic builders by Foster & Partners; the first sustainable urban design for Mars, Mars City Design; the first spacesuit designed for the Mars surface; Christopher Raeburn's new fashion collection inspired by the red planet and much more.

The exhibition opens October 18th and will run until February 2020.

3D-printed Mars Habitat by Foster + Partners

Christopher Raeburn spring-summer '20 campaign. Image courtesy of Christopher Raeburn

AI SpaceFactory wants you to experience Mars on Earth

2019-09-03T21:00:00-04:00

You might remember AI SpaceFactory as the New York-based multidisciplinary design agency that took home first place in NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. The team was awarded a $500,000 grand prize for their proposal entitled MARSHA.

Expanding on lessons learned from MARSHA, the agency has now designed and developed a successor called TERA, "built from a 3D-printed biopolymer basalt composite—a material developed from crops like corn and sugar cane—tested and validated by NASA to be [at least] 50% stronger and more durable than concrete."

TERA. Image courtesy of AI SpaceFactory

AI SpaceFactory promotes this method as a more sustainable approach than traditional concrete and steel, something they believe will be essential to building operations in a future on Mars as well as Earth.

"Nestled in the woods of upstate New York along the Hudson River, TERA is available on a nightly basis for anyone wanting to experience what sustainable life could be like on Mars–and on Earth," writes th...