The New York Times features NASA’s Project Olympus in a feature article about NASA’s goal to build homes on the moon by 2040. BIG is collaborating with ICON, SEArch+ (Space Exploration Architecture) and NASA to create Project Olympus, a lunar habitat set to be the first human foray into extra-terrestrial construction. Through the Artemis program – a collaboration with commercial and international partners to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before – NASA has signaled that the Moon will be the first off-Earth site for sustainable surface exploration. ICON, a developer of advanced construction technologies such as robotics, software and building materials, was awarded a government Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, including funding from NASA, to begin research and development of a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon. “The NASA Olympus habitats will be designed with the inherent redundancy required for extraterrestrial buildings, while also using groundbreaking robotic construction that uses only in-situ resources with zero waste left behind. With the technologies and efficiency parameters developed for the construction of extraterrestrial buildings, Project Olympus will also help us build sustainably on planet Earth as we strive to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment.” – Martin Voelkle, Partner, BIG
