NASA Awards ICON $57 Million Contract For 'Lunar Surface Construction System'
NASA Awards ICON $57 Million Contract For ‘Lunar Surface Construction System’ According to a press release from this morning, NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will fund a construction site capable of building critical space exploration and dwelling infrastructure like roads, landing pads, and blast shields on the surface of the Moon. The funding recipient isICON, a construction technology company with an emphasis on complex 3D printing. Almost $60 million from the SBIR will be directed towards ICON’s “Project Olympus,” an endeavor to establish construction sites on extraterrestrial bodies — first the Moon, and eventually Mars — that utilize building materials and resources found on the surface to build up infrastructure....