NASA awards contracts for lunar infrastructure construction

NASA has awarded a $58M (£47M) contract to US technology contractor, ICON, to build landing pads, habitats and roads on the lunar surface.

ICON is most well known for its 3D printing technology for housing, but has been working under the NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - a dual use contract with the US Air Force, partly funded by NASA - on the so-called “Project Olympus” since 2020.

The contract will run until 2028 and is valued at $57.2M (£46.8M) and will deliver the infrastructure needed for a sustained human presence.

The US space agency is planning for long term human exploration of the Moon as part of its Artemis programme, and the contract award will involve the development of the space based Olympus construction system.

“The final deliverable of this contract will be humanity's first construction on another world, and that is going to be something pretty special”

ICON co-founder and CEO, Jason Ballard.

The company intends to work with samples of lunar regolith - unconsolidated debris on the lunar surface - brought back from the Apollo missions In the 1970s to develop its lunar construction approaches.

ICON will also work with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama alongside other industry, government and academic institutions participating in the Space Technology Mission Directorate's Moon to Mars Planetary Construction Technologies (MMPACT) Project.

In the past ICON has worked on other NASA projects utilising its 3D printing technology, including a 158m² simulated Martian habitat that the agency will use as part of its Crew Health and Performance Analog.

It has also partnered with the Colorado School of Mines, where it developed a prize winning 3D printing structure sample that was tested for its ability to hold a seal, for strength, and for durability in temperature extremes.