3D Printing Is Out Of This World
The emergence of 3D printing has delivered some incredible architectural projects around the world. Now the ambitious technology is moving on to the next frontier – into outer space.
London-based architects, Foster+Partners and the European Space Agency (ESA) have revealed they will use 3D printing to create the parts necessary to build their highly anticipated moon base.
“Terrestrial 3D printing technology has produced entire structures,” said Laurent Pambaguian, head of the ESA project. “Our industrial team investigated if it could similarly be employed to build a lunar habitat.”
3D printing can create any geometric form from a digital CAD model and is achieved through an additive process where successive layers of construction materials are joined together to create the final shape.