Nasa’s towering ‘Moon stone’ homes created by harvesting alien lunar rock with giant ‘mining robot’ revealed

ASTRONAUTS could one day live inside towering homes on the Moon – built from lunar rock.

Nasa images reveal what the buildings might look like, and the mining robot that would harvest the materials needed for construction.

The space agency is currently preparing to return humans to the surface of the Moon.

That’s expected to properly begin with the Artemis III mission, which is set to take place no earlier than September 2026.

It’ll see Nasa astronauts landing at the Moon’s south pole, and will mark the beginning of plans to create a sustained human presence on the lunar surface.

And as part of the long-term vision, Nasa is hoping to be able to mine lunar regolith – a layer of surface rock – to create structures cheaply on the Moon.

The vision is to create “fully outfitted facilities and buildings to support a permanent lunar settlement and vibrant space economy”.

Nasa has already been testing virtual versions of mining robots in computer simulations – internally nicknamed “Moon Tycoon”.

A real version of the robot excavator will eventually fly to the Moon “in the next several years”, to demonstrate that it can successfully harvest “up to 10 metric tons of regolith”.

“This will be the first time excavating for mining operations, or in other words, where the intent is to actually use the resources,” said Nasa robotic engineer Jason Schuler.

Once Nasa can successfully harvest Moon rock, it can then begin trials to actually build structures on the lunar surface.

Nasa calls this type of home a “Class III” structure.

A Class I building is made on Earth, then delivered to the Moon.

For Class II, you’ll deploy it on the surface of the Moon, but it needs assembly and outfitting up there.

And Class III is when the building is totally manufactured on the Moon, built from local resources.

The rock would be collected, and then potentially 3D-printed into whatever kind of building Nasa needs.

The space agency has already showcased stunning 3D-printed building designs created by architecture whizzes at AI. SpaceFactory, a future-gazing company based in New York.

Nasa says that this third strategy wouldn’t just work on the Moon – but potentially also Mars.

Importantly, the material that Nasa will be harvesting with its mining robot isn’t meant to be just for space homes.

Nasa hopes that it can harvest regolith and use it to build almost anything on the Moon.

And this process can be simulated on a computer in advance – to make sure it all works as intended.

“We can excavate the regolith and use it as construction material,” Schuler explained.

“We can build landing pads, leveling areas for site preparation, build berms, and compact pathways all in simulation.

“All of these capabilities are important for enabling a sustainable human presence on the Moon.”

Nasa said that it could use the material to build 165-foot towers, miles of roads, and launch pads measuring 330-foot launch pads.

On top of that, it could create “shelters and habitats” with “thousands of cubic metres” of volume.

Nasa said this would provide “asset and crew protection” from “thermal, radiation” dangers.

And the goal would be that these systems would last at least 10 years – or potentially even longer.