The new lunar race does not consist only of returning to the moon, but to stay. And for that infrastructure is needed. NASA wants lunar concrete houses for 2040ESA has already found a method to pave roads from the regolitoand China trust that 3D impression accelerates your plans to create a large lunar base. Now an Australian company has put its own bet on the table, one that could not be more Australian: a Robot spider.
A giant robot spider that prints houses. His name is Charlotte, and he is a hexapod robot (entomologists will forgive me) that displays his six legs to become a huge 3D printer capable of moving along the land as he built a house.
Presented during the 76th International Congress of Astronautics in Sydney, this creation of Australian companies Crest Robotics and Earthbuilt Technology has been Designed for a double purpose: Solve the housing crisis on Earth and, incidentally, prepare to build the first bases on the moon, something that Australia could contribute as a partner of the Artemis program.
Build at the speed of 100 masons. Although the most striking of Charlotte is the arthropod inspiration design, its true magic lies in the combination of advanced robotics with a very particular 3D printing system, which can have a key advantage on the moon.
Instead of depending on massive porches, such as other 3D construction printers, Charlotte promises to place himself on the walls that he creates and walk with his six legs to move as he adds layers to the building. This gives it an agility and portability that traditional printers do not have. According to its creators, you can build A 200 square meter house in 24 hours, so it will work at the speed of 100 masons.
On the moon the whole floor is concrete. On paper, Charlotte meets several of the requirements to manufacture on the moon: it is light, you can fold its legs to occupy much less space in a rocket, and is designed to collect the materials available locally.
On Earth, it promises to manufacture houses with sand, earth or crushed brick. On the moon, the plan is to collect soil regolito, compress it in a flexible tank and use the compacted material to form the layers of walls with already tested 3D printing techniques. It is an industrial and automated version of the construction technique with sacks.
The regolite, the fine and abrasive dust that covers the lunar surface, is both a problem and a solution. It was a nightmare for Apollo missions, adhering to costumes and equipment, but it is also The fundamental raw material For any lunar construction project. If one day there are people living on the moon, they may do so in houses built in the most Australian way: with a gigantic spider (forgiveness, hexapod) robot.
Image | Crest Robotics
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings