Austin 3-D Builder Gets Deal to Build…On the Moon

The company is best known for delivering the first 3-D home on Earth, but now Austin-based ICON has received a $57 million contract from NASA to build on the moon. The contract will go towards developing space-based construction systems to support planned exploration of the Moon and beyond. This technology will help to establish the infrastructure necessary for a sustainable lunar economy including, eventually, longer term lunar habitation. The technology consists of using computer-aided designs to create three-dimensional objects through a layering method. The process uses locally available dirt and rock. 

ICON delivered the first, permitted 3D-printed home in the U.S. in 2018. Since then, the company has delivered communities of 3D-printed homes in the U.S. and Mexico. Icon will use its 3D printers to build 100 houses in Wolf Ranch in Georgetown. The company says the community would be the first large-scale 3D-printed housing development in the United States.