Archinect - News

NASA tests autonomous construction robots for future use in outer space

2024-02-06T11:09:00-05:00

NASA has unveiled details of a robotic system designed to construct and maintain structural components in space. The system, developed by NASA’s Automated Reconfigurable Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems (ARMADAS) team, consists of inchworm-like robots that may one day assemble, repair, and reconfigure structural materials in orbit, on the lunar surface, or on other planets, before humans arrive.

A Scaling Omnidirectional Lattice Locomoting Explorer (SOLL-E) builder robot carries a small building block called a voxel – short for volumetric pixel – as it maneuvers, stepping inchworm-style, along the exterior of a mechanical metamaterial structure. Image credit: NASA/Dominic Hart

NASA’s system revolves around a set of 3D building blocks called voxels, which resemble a wire-frame soccer ball. Made of strong, lightweight composite materials, the voxels combine to create a system that, according to NASA, is comparable to current high-performance structures such as bridges, aircraf...

Louisiana State and NASA to develop waterless concrete for 3D printing on the Moon

2023-12-14T12:06:00-05:00

Louisiana State University is collaborating with NASA on a project investigating the potential for natural materials on the Moon to be used as 3D printed waterless concrete. The research is part of a wider mission to develop feasible robotic construction technologies that can support the building of long-term settlements on the Lunar surface, including habitats, landing pads, and radiation shields.

The research is a partnership between LSU Construction Management Assistant Professor Ali Kazemian alongside scientists Michael Fiske and Jennifer Edmunson from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Together, the team will investigate how raw materials already available on the Moon and Mars, namely sulfur and regolith, can be used to develop 3D printed waterless concrete.

Related on Archinect: ICON to work with DARPA on a framework for Lunar architecture. Image credit: BIG

Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the team will study the performance and limits ...

ICON to work with DARPA on a framework for lunar architecture

2023-12-11T12:12:00-05:00

The construction technology company ICON has been chosen by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) among 14 partners to build a framework for lunar architecture. The LunA-10 Lunar Architecture Study will run for seven months with the aim to “create a framework for interoperable commercial lunar architecture that will help to guide lunar research and investment over the next ten years.”

The 14 companies have been chosen for their prior engagement with the space industry, whose products and services may form the foundational elements for a future lunar economy. Aside from ICON’s focus on construction, the group also contains specialists across power, communications, and mobility.

“By participating in LunA-10, we can understand what inputs are going to be available, when, at what cost, and in what quantities,” said Evan Jensen, ICON’s Vice President o...

Spaceport America selects RS&H, Populous, Zia team for master plan project in New Mexico

2023-05-18T17:47:00-04:00

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) has selected a team comprising RS&H, Populous, and Zia Engineering & Environmental Consultants to spearhead the Spaceport America Master Plan Project.

Located adjacent to the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, Spaceport America is the first purpose-built commercial spaceport in the world. It aims to serve as a multi-modal site for point-to-point space transportation, aerospace operations, research, development, and testing.

The spaceport master plan study will explore the potential for future space and aviation operations, macro and micro-industry trends, national security space requirements and operations, public and private investments, potential launch vehicles operating from the site, frequency of flights, potential payloads, propellant storage, regulatory trends, and development options for future spaceport operations.

Populous will provide master-planning support, along with leading the branding and event pro...

ICON receives NASA funding to create 3D printing methods using materials from the Moon and Mars

2022-11-30T14:26:00-05:00

3D printing company ICON has been awarded funding by NASA to develop lunar surface construction systems. The $57.2 million contract was awarded under NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program and will see ICON develop “space-based construction technology” with the aim of creating humanity’s “first-ever construction on another planetary body.”

Concept render of ICON's proposed system. Image credit: ICON

The technology system, which ICON names Olympus, seeks to primarily use local Lunar and Martian resources as building materials. As part of this, the company plans on using lunar regolith samples brought back from the Apollo missions as well as regolith replicas to further understand their mechanical behavior. ICON’s hardware and software will also be tested in a lunar gravity simulation flight to study their potential performance beyond Earth.

If successful, the system may be used to create critical infrastructure on the Moon, including landing pads, blast shields, and roads. ...

MIT Media Lab designs and tests modular tiles for self-assembling space architecture

2022-05-16T11:50:00-04:00

The MIT Media Lab has shared insights into their pioneering project to build habitats in outer space. Named TESSERAE, the project seeks to create a highly-engineered tile which can be used as a building block for self-assembling, adaptive, reconfigurable structures.

Artist's render of TESSERAE spaceship. Credit: MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative (Artist's Render courtesy of Igor Neminov)

Rather than the traditional method of transporting fixed, rigid habitation modules into outer space, creating structures such as the International Space Station, the team behind TESSERAE believes that their modular, self-assembly method can lower payload weight and reduce construction complexity, while also broadening the possibilities of what future space architecture may look like.

TESSERAE assembly concept: Flat-packed for launch, tiles released to swirl and quasi-stochastically self assemble, target geometry, constellation of multiple docked TESSERAE modules. Credit: Ariel Ekblaw

Each TE...

NASA awards grants to three U.S. universities to develop lunar infrastructure

2022-03-01T14:58:00-05:00

Three U.S. university-led proposals have been selected by NASA to develop technologies for living and working on the Moon.

This push for technological development comes as NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the Moon through its Artemis missions, the agency’s plan to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon for long-term exploration using innovative technologies. The advancements are key to meeting the challenges of inhabiting the Moon. These efforts were selected under the second Lunar Surface Technology Research (LuSTR) solicitation, which is part of NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants program. Here, the agency supports groundbreaking research in advanced space technology by academic researchers.

Previously on Archinect: RISD students are helping NASA develop its Artemis mission uniforms for 20

The selected projects cover three topics laid out in the solicitation: “Autonomous Construction,” in which The Colorado School of Mines will develop tools and me...

RISD students are helping NASA develop its Artemis mission uniforms for 2025

2022-02-04T10:44:00-05:00

A perfect fusion between fine artists, fashion designers, and rocket scientists is taking flight in New England thanks to the ambitious efforts of some of The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) nerdier undergraduates. NASA and the prestigious design school are now teaming up to outfit astronauts on the agency’s upcoming Artemis I lunar expedition.

Artnet News is reporting that students in a course offered by the school’s apparel design department are now responsible for workshopping prototypes for the high-tech gear that the 18-member crew will incorporate into their uniforms during the 30-day mission.

Designs by undergraduate senior Avantika Velho focused on utility in zero gravity. Image courtesy RISD.

The mission will place an American on the moon for the first time since the Apollo program was deactivated in 1972. Importantly, the mission will see the first time that an American woman and person of color walk on the moon in what has also been thought of by some as a potential ...

BIG's 3D-printed Mars simulation habitat is taking shape

2021-08-09T12:23:00-04:00

Images have been revealed of a 3D-printed structure being built to help simulate life on Mars. Named Mars Dune Alpha, the habitat was designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group for NASA and advanced construction developer ICON, intended to form part of future long-duration, explorative science missions. The 1,700 square-foot structure is currently being built at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where it will host a simulation environment for future space explorers.

Rendering. Image: BIG / ICON / NASA

The habitat has been designed along varying levels of privacy. Four private crew quarters are located on one end of the habitat, while dedicated work stations, medical stations, and food-growing stations are located at the opposite end. Shared living spaces will connect the two zones in the middle. Varying ceiling heights, responding to an arching shell structure, accentuate the unique experiences and uses of each area to avoid a sense of monotony or user fatigue. Meanwhile, a mix o...

Elon Musk floats idea of new 'Starbase' city in Texas

2021-03-05T15:37:00-05:00

Musk [...] said on Tuesday he’s aiming to create a city called “Starbase” in Texas, teasing a new idea on Twitter as his space company expands its footprint elsewhere in the state. That footprint, first planted in the Lone Star state over a decade ago, is growing rapidly under Musk’s dogged effort to build a “gateway to Mars.”

Nearly a decade after launching the world's first commercial launchpad in Boca Chica near Brownsville, South Texas, SpaceX/Tesla/Hyperloop/Boring Company entrepreneur Elon Musk has shared a grand, and fashionably vague, announcement of a new urban stepping stone for his ambitious Mars colonization endeavor.

From thence to Mars,
And hence the Stars.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2021

Designs for outer space at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

2019-08-01T19:31:00-04:00

Fifty years since the first footsteps on the Moon, the exploration of the cosmos remains irresistible, and the ambition to establish commercial space travel and planetary settlements continues to capture the imagination. Far Out: Suits, Habs, and Labs for Outer Space celebrates the visionary ideas and ingenious solutions from architects, artists, and designers who dared to imagine life far out among the stars.

Entitled Far Out: Suits, Habs, and Labs for Outer Space, SFMOMA's exhibition celebrating the "booming space industry," will be open from July 20, 2019 to January 20, 2020. "Extraterrestrial conditions amplify the challenge to design for space travel, and new research and technologies are making what was once science fiction a reality," the museum writes. The exhibition will explore the work of artists and architects and how their ideas fit into "our cosmic quest."

Daniel Libeskind tells the NYT what he would do on the Moon if brought along on SpaceX

2018-09-26T13:22:00-04:00

Last week saw the announcement by Elon Musk that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would be the first private passenger aboard the Tesla CEO's Big Falcon Rocket. Alongside, it was also suggested that Maezawa would invite a group of artists to come along on his trip to the moon, expected to launch in 2023.

The proposal, which asks the visionary space travelers to create something after they return to Earth, has led to much speculation about whom might be chosen, and what might they create. Curious as well, the New York Times asked eight artists to put together some pitches of their own.

Among the speculative projects is a very bold bid by Daniel Libeskind to transform the moon into a perfect square. The Polish-American architect told the NYT:

I like that this project is about art rather than science. So my proposal is to turn the moon itself into an art project: It’s a sphere and I want to turn it into a perfect square. That’s the dream.

My son Noam is an astrophysicist at the L...

Japanese billionaire to be sent to moon by SpaceX says he'll bring along architects and other artists

2018-09-18T14:08:00-04:00

Elon Musk has revealed Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as the potential first passenger to be launched to the moon by Musk's private aerospace company, SpaceX.

Ranked the 18th richest person in Japan, Mr. Maezawa is the founder of the online fashion retail website Zozotown. He is also known for having dropped $110 million on a painting by the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat last year at a Sotheby's auction. The price tag for reserving a spot on Musk's first launch was, reportedly, much more than what he paid for the Basquiat masterpiece.

The Big Falcon Rocket, which will take Maezawa to space—and which Musk says will allow his company to build a base on the moon, colonize Mars, and enable a must faster commercial travel on Earth—has not yet been built. SpaceX's other major venture thus far, the Falcon Heavy, which is a reusable heavy lift launch vehicle, took nearly twice as long to complete than expected.

That said, the tech tycoon, echoed by Musk, said he could board th...

Home is where your hard drive is.

2017-11-17T13:45:00-05:00

Within 40 hours of the project being announced in 2016, over 100,000 people had applied for citizenship on Asgardia's website. After three weeks, Asgardia had 500,000 applicants.

On November 12, a hard drive 'nanosat' containing the information of 18,000 newly naturalized citizens of Asgardia took off for its two-day flight to the international space station. The nanosat — it is roughly the size of a loaf of bread — contains 0.5 TB of data such as family photographs, as well as digital representations of the space nation's flag, coat of arms, and constitution.

The project, lead by a 53-year-old rocket scientist Dr Igor Ashurbeyl, says its mission is to provide a "peaceful society," offer easier access to space technologies, and protect earth from space threats, such as asteroids and man-made debris in space.

"I really want to be able to see if human beings are able to have more opportunity to express their opinions, The society we live in now — everything seems to be either capitalism or communism — there's a lot of conflict. As a human being, I would hope (to see) if we could have other ways (of living). For a better life, and for more options." Says Dr Ig...

BIG to design UAE's $136M Mars Science City that replicates life on Mars

2017-09-27T13:57:00-04:00

The Mars Science City structure will be the most sophisticated building the world, and will incorporate a realistic simulation environment replicating the conditions on the surface of Mars. A team of Emirati scientists, engineers and designers, led by a team from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Dubai Municipality, will carry out the project, in cooperation with internationally renowned architects Bjarke Ingels.

The United Arab Emirates is set to begin work on a $136M project to build a city stimulating conditions of life on Mars. The project is a part of the country's Mars by 2117 strategy, launched earlier this year by HH Sheikh Mohammed, in which the Gulf state seeks to lead the global scientific race to take people to Mars.

The Mars Science City will stand as a prototype for the first human settlement on Mars. Plans involve the creation of a 1.9 millions square-foot simulation city, consisting of several domes, complete with laboratories for food and water, walls created using sand from the Emirati desert, and a museum that displays humanity’s greatest space achievements. The project will utilize 3D printed technology as well as heat and radiation insulation to imitate the red planet’s terrain and harsh environment.

"The UAE seeks to establish international efforts to develop technologies that benefit humankind, and that establish the foundation of a better future for more generations ...

The UAE announces plans to build a miniature city on Mars

2017-02-15T17:42:00-05:00

The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has announced intentions to build a “miniature city” on Mars within the next 100 years, reports Arabian Business. Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, launched the project at the World Government Summit. Entitled the 2117 Mars project, the endeavor aims to develop scientific capabilities, and may result in the conversion of local universities into research facilities.

"There are no limits to the imagination and aspirations of human beings," Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

Apparently, the UAE counts as one of the major investors in space travel. Back in November, Sheikh Mohammed approved the designs for a Mars probe, which should reach the planet by 2021. It will study changes in the planet’s atmosphere.

Newly patented space elevator could take astronauts 12 miles up into the stratosphere

2015-08-24T17:20:00-04:00

Canadian space and defense company Thoth Technology is attempting to make reaching the stratosphere as simple as riding an elevator up a tower about 23 times taller than the world’s tallest building. The Thoth space elevator patent, approved by the US patent office on July 21, specifies that the tower could be built on any “planetary surface,” (i.e. not just Earth), a sign that Thoth is thinking pretty far ahead. [...] the top of the tower will serve as a rocket launch site.

In slightly more recent-technology elevator news:

Challenging the space-age Manifest Destiny narrative, as Elon Musk vies to move humans to Mars

2015-05-08T12:26:00-04:00

It’s a myth almost universally believed, that sits at the core of liberal technocratic thought, and has been embedded in practically every other work of speculative fiction for the last half century. You can sum it up like this: 'When we go into space, we will all magically become nice.'...It’s early days, but if we really want to create a progressive new world then issues like these should be at the hearts of our efforts from the very start.

The longtime space-age Manifest Destiny of humans inhabiting Mars and the prominently white, European male perspective that narrative perpetually emphasizes has become a bubbling multi-faceted discussion among science bloggers as Elon Musk's staunch ambitions to ultimately turn humans into a "multiplanet species" continue to develop. Stemming from that discussion, writer Martin Robbins of The Guardian contemplates whether or not humanity's eventual future on Mars can exist without the earthly issues of sexism and racism.

OSU builds space habitat project in NASA competition

2011-05-25T11:21:28-04:00

Associate professor Jamey Jacob is the leader of a group of Oklahoma State students who are designing a live-in habitat for next-generation space travel. The team at Oklahoma State is involved in a competition, hosted by NASA, with two other schools.

Norman Foster: To infinity and beyond?

2011-05-17T20:51:13-04:00

"As a designer I know that everything we've done -- everything I've done -- is to try to transform that experience to bring it back to what it was in the golden age of flight," says Foster. "To make it something that is a celebration, to make it a friendly, uplifting experience and in that sense to go back in time."

CNN interviews Norman Foster.