A cutting-edge Austin, Texas-based construction firm is partnering with NASA to figure out ways to build on the moon.
, is announcing today that it has landed a $57.2 million contract for Project Olympus, the company's effort to develop spaced-based construction to support exploration of the moon and beyond."We feel real weight and responsibility — we're not just doing this for ourselves, we're giving humanity the capability to build on other worlds," ICON CEO Jason Ballard told Axios.
"The final deliverable of this contract will be humanity's first construction on another world, and that is going to be a pretty special achievement."Hoping to work with materials native to the moon, ICON engineers will examine lunar regolith — dust and broken rocks — to determine their mechanical behavior in simulated lunar gravity.
Company officials say the findings will inform future lunar construction for critical infrastructure like landing pads, blast shields and roads."To explore other worlds, we need innovative new technologies adapted to those environments and our exploration needs," said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.
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