In episode 117 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and guest co-host Isaac Arthur chat with ICON Build’s Evan Jensen about 3D printing habitats on the Moon and one day on Mars.
For decades we’ve seen images of huge glass domes on the Moon and Mars, but the reality of building settlements outside of Earth is likely to look very different. This week we’re joined by Evan Jensen from ICON Build, a company that in just a few years has been creating homes in Texas through 3D printing. Now, in collaboration with NASA, they are also investing heavily in research into how to 3D print habitats on the Moon and one day on Mars.
It is not easy to work in a vacuum – water freezes and evaporates immediately, and any other material you need must be transported there. ICON has some unique processes that they are testing in their large vacuum chambers and the results are truly fascinating. Join us to see the future of living in other worlds!
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Space news of the week
Model Falcon 9!
Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Rocket manufacturer Estes’ stunning model of a Falcon 9 rocket you can get your hands on now. The release model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.
About this week in space
This week in space covers the new space age. Every Friday we do a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What’s going on with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?
Join Space.com’s Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik as they tackle these questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe to your favorite podcatcher today.
Rod Pyle is an author, journalist, television producer and editor-in-chief of Ad Astra magazine. He has written 18 books on the history, exploration and development of space, including Space 2.0, Innovation on the way to NASA, Interplanetary robots, Project for a Battlestar, Amazing stories of the space age, First on the moonAND Destination Mars
In a previous life, Rod produced many documentaries and short films for The History Channel, Discovery Communications and Disney. He also worked on visual effects in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine AND Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as various sci-fi television pilots. His most recent television credit was with the NatGeo documentary on Tom Wolfe’s iconic book The right things.
Responsible for Space.com’s editorial vision, Tariq Malik has been editor-in-chief of Space.com since 2019 and has covered space news and science for 18 years. He joined the Space.com team in 2001, first as an intern and soon after as a full-time spaceflight reporter covering human spaceflight, exploration, astronomy and the night sky. He became managing editor of Space.com in 2009. As an on-air talent, he has presented space stories on CNN, Fox News, NPR and others.
Tariq is an Eagle Scout (yes, he earned his Space Exploration merit badge), a Space Camp veteran (4 times as a child, once as an adult), and has made the final trip to the “vomit comet” while reporting for zero gravity fires. Before joining Space.com, he served as a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering urban and education beats. He holds journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University.