Want to Live on the Moon? NASA Plans to Make This a Reality Sooner Than You Think

Rather than searching for real estate listings in another state or even country, you may eventually be looking for homes in an area much farther away: the moon. NASA has announced that it plans to build residences on the moon by 2040, which you may be eligible to live in during your lifetime, the New York Times reports.

While some scientists believe the space agency's timeline is overly ambitious, NASA is holding firm on its goal. "We're at a pivotal moment, and in some ways it feels like a dream sequence," Niki Werkheiser, NASA's director of technology maturation, told the Times. "In other ways, it feels like it was inevitable that we would get here."

NASA's plan to create habitable structures on the moon is part of its Artemis program—the agency's effort to put astronauts back on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17. The first of five planned Artemis missions took off last November with robots on board and circled the moon before returning safely to earth, the Times reports. The second mission, Artemis II, will carry four human crew members on a 10-day flight around the same path. Artemis III will take off one year later, during which humans will land on the lunar surface.

To make the project a reality, NASA has partnered with ICON, a construction technology company based in Texas, which plans to build homes using a 3D printer. The printer will be sent to the moon, where it will build structures (launch pads, landing pads, homes, etc.) using materials already found on the moon. The idea is that, by using the moon's own surface materials, the dwellings will be able to withstand the satellite's toxic radiation and extreme temperature changes.

But before any equipment can be sent to the moon, it must be rigorously tested on earth first to ensure it can withstand the radiation and thermal vacuum conditions on the moon. In February 2024, ICON’s printer will be lowered into the largest chamber for its first test, the Times reports.

“The first thing that needs to happen is a proof of concept. Can we actually manipulate the soil on the lunar surface into a construction material?” Jennifer Edmunson, the lead geologist at Marshall Space Flight Center for the project told the Times. “We need to start this development now if we’re going to realize habitats on the moon by the 2040 time frame.”

Then there's also the task of figuring out what will go inside of the moon's dwellings. For that,
NASA is working with universities and private companies to create prototypes for space furniture and interior design, including tiles of different colors that could potentially be used for kitchens and bathrooms.

While the plans are certainly ambitious, NASA believes its goal of humans living on the moon by 2040 is indeed possible. In fact, this project is just a drop in the bucket compared to the space agency's longer term goal: traveling to Mars.