The U.S. space agency has partnered with ICON, a pioneering construction company to build dwellings using 3-D printers and concrete made from space materials. NASA is about to make yet another giant leap for mankind.

According to The New York Times, NASA believes that by 2040, Americans will be living in houses on the moon. While some in the scientific community are skeptical that the feat is overly ambitious, NASA scientists insist the 2040 goal for lunar living is entirely attainable. 

“We’re at a pivotal moment, and in some ways it feels like a dream sequence,” Niki Werkheiser, NASA’s director of technology maturation, told the Times. “In other ways, it feels like it was inevitable that we would get here.” 

To make it happen, NASA will send a 3-D printer to the moon, to build housing structures using dust, rocks and mineral fragments found on the moon’s cratered surface to make a concrete-like material, according to CBS News. 

According to the Times, 3-D printing the houses from the moon’s own surface materials would allow the dwellings to withstand the moon’s extreme temperature swings and toxic combination of micrometeorites and radiation. 

A significant challenge for the project is making sure all of the necessary construction materials and tools are in place on the moon, per CBS News, particularly as rockets need to travel light. 

Patrick Suermann, interim dean of the School of Architecture at Texas A&M University, which is working closely with NASA to develop a robot-operated space construction system, said transporting supplies from earth to the moon is “unsustainable.” 

“And there’s no Home Depot up there. So you either have to know how to use what’s up there or send everything you need,” he told the Times.

Before anything is shipped to the moon, however, NASA will rigorously test the tools and materials down here on earth, including the 3-D printer and the lunar concrete. 

As for what will go inside the lunar dwellings, NASA is working on that, too. The agency is partnering with several private companies and universities to develop prototypes for space furniture and interior design elements, including fixtures and tiles.  

Even if lunar homes are years away, tourists may be able to vacation in space by 2025. 

Orbital Assembly Corp. plans to open two space stations with tourist accommodations in the next few years. Pioneer Station, which can host 28 people, is set to be operational by 2025, while the larger Voyager Station, which was originally announced in 2021 with a capacity of 400 people, is scheduled to open in 2027.