Lunar travel has always been the preserve of astronauts, science fiction writers and people who still insist the moon landing was filmed on a soundstage, but NASA apparently wants to make it just a bit more suburban. The agency has announced a rather ambitious plan to build houses on the moon by 2040, because clearly Earth’s real estate market just is not cutthroat enough.
As reported by The New York Times, NASA has laid out concrete goals for literal concrete homes on the lunar surface, leaning on advances in 3D printing and collaboration with U.S. companies to turn the barren wasteland that is the moon into something resembling a Zillow listing. Based on conceptual renderings, the homes of the future will not include fences or front lawns, but they might have a stellar view of Earth, assuming the HOA allows it.
The endeavor falls under NASA’s Artemis program, which is already planning to return astronauts to the moon in the next few years, providing that everything runs on schedule, a phrase one should never say aloud near a NASA engineer. As part of the lunar vision, the housing construction would rely on regolith, the moon’s very own dust and rock combo, because shipping materials from Earth would be ruinously expensive and astronomically inconvenient.
To pull this off, NASA is partnering with firms like ICON, a Texas-based construction tech company best known for 3D-printing homes in disaster-struck regions. They now plan to set their printers to moon mode, presumably after updating for zero gravity and zero margin for error. ICON has already received hundreds of millions in funding for moon housing projects, finally giving Texas developers the chance to say they are creating gated communities on a different celestial body entirely.
NASA insists the goal is long-term exploration and not, to be clear, opening a luxury time-share orbiting the Mare Tranquillitatis. Still, officials stress that building permanent structures on the moon could help support astronauts with longer stays and even prepare humankind for that eternal dream of living on Mars, because apparently one giant leap must always be followed by a colossal mortgage.
Scientists involved are cautious yet optimistic, pointing out that while the technical hurdles are enormous, the plan is backed by real research and a great deal of ambition, which coincidentally is also how most DIY home renovations begin before descending into chaos and plaster dust.
So if everything goes to plan, future families could one day be sending postcards that read “Wish You Were Here, on the Moon” followed by a note about how the Wi-Fi is spotty and the gravity still takes some getting used to.
Houston, we may have a housing bubble.