A Texas Company Will Develop Buildings For The Moon

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One Texas business is about to come up with buildings that are out of this world!

The future of space exploration is being dreamed of, planned, built, and launched right here in Texas.

NASA announced this week that Texas based, ICON, which is known for producing 3-D printed homes, has been awarded a $57.2 million dollar contract to develop construction technologies that would build infrastructure like landing pads, roads, and even places people could live on the Moon.

The contract with NASA runs through 2028 and will work with the Artemis program. The goal of Artemis is to establish a human presence on the Moon by 2028, and then eventually send humans to Mars.

According to the Houston Chronicle, ICON is already building towards that goal.

The new contract builds on ICONS' Olympus construction system, which is designed to use local resources on the Moon and Mars as building materials. Through its partnership with NASA, ICON has already printed a 1,700-square-foot simulated Martian habitat, dubbed Mars Dune Alpha. The space agency will use the 3D-printed habitat for a series of astronaut training missions, called Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), that will simulate year-long stays on the surface of Mars starting next year.

So not only do we have companies in Texas joining in the race to send people to space, but now we also have a company in Texas that will be finding out how we can live on the Moon and on Mars.