US military wants to build factories on the moon

DARPA is soliciting 'designs that are so mass-efficient that they can only be built off-Earth'

DARPA’s new program aims to pave the way for ‘building large structures on orbit and moon' (ESA/Foster + Partners)

A secretive division of the US military is seeking ways to build factories and other large buildings on the moon to serve the Defense Department.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched a new program aimed at encouraging commercial space companies to pioneer technologies for off-Earth manufacturing to produce "large space and lunar structures".

DARPA's Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) project hopes to come up with concepts that can only be realized in space.

"NOM4D's vision is to develop foundational materials, processes, and designs needed to realize in-space manufacturing of large, precise, and resilient Defense Department systems," said Bill Carter, program manager in DARPA's Defense Sciences Office.

"We're looking for proposers to come up with system designs that are so mass-efficient that they can only be built off-Earth, and with features that enable them to withstand manoeuvres, eclipses, damage, and thermal cycles typical of space and lunar environments."

DARPA's announcement of the NOM4D program did not make clear what the intended purpose of the lunar manufacturing facilities is but is soliciting ideas for large solar arrays, radio frequency antennas and long-wave infrared telescopes.

A Proposers Day event will be held on 26 February for companies interested in pitching mass-efficient designs that could be suitable for the program.

DARPA said it "assumes an established space ecosphere by 2030 comprising reliable logistics [and] facilities", supported by frequent launches and advanced robots operating on the moon.

Plans for establishing a lunar base are already underway, with Nasa describing the moon as "the gateway to the solar system".

The US space agency's Artemis program hopes to land astronauts on the moon in 2024 as part of its long-term goal of setting up a permanent human presence there. One of the biggest obstacles to achieving this is finding ways to make use of the extensive resources of the moon, including its water and material deposits that could be used for building any future structures.

"Given the constraints of ground test, launch and deployment, the traditional approach to designing space structures is not likely to result in dramatic improvements in mass efficiency," Mr Carter said.

"In order to take the next step, we've got to go about materials, manufacturing and design in a completely new way."