First lunar habitations could be built by 3D robotic printers `within 40 years`

The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently revealed its plans to build a fully habitable base on the moon within 40 years, with the help of robotic 3D printers.

The ESA’s latest video briefing shows more fleshed-out plans for how robotic 3D printers on wheels would, within a single unit, collect material from the surface of the Moon and convert it into a radiation and meteor-resistant coating for human accommodation, the Independent reported.

The research has been carried out by the ESA with the help of architects Foster plus Partners, who stated that as with all moon colonization plans the 3D printing scheme was still on the drawing board.

However, Scott Hovland, from ESA’s human spaceflight team, said that 3D printing offers a potential means of facilitating a moon base with reduced logistics from Earth.