NASA Advances 3D Printing on the Moon

摘要

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently revealed a plan to construct a lunar base using additive manufacturing (AM), possibly following NASA's experiment with fueling a 3D printer with crushed moon rock. Now, NASA has released information about its own plan to build a lunar base with AM, with help from a multi-legged robot. The robot, called ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer), is being built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), and has been in the testing phase for a number of years. It was designed specifically to explore the surface of the moon, and now may be refitted to add AM elements.