Italian inventor Enrico Dini has created a three-dimensional printer that uses sand and magnesium-based glue to build rock-resistant objects and sculptures layer by layer. His dream now is to use this technology to create a giant printer with which to build habitable buildings on the Moon .
There is no shortage of arguments in defense of its technology. For starters, the D-shape printer , as it has been dubbed, can create a building four times faster than traditional methods, and cuts costs in half. It generates practically no waste , which is especially important on the Moon. In addition, it not only prints straight walls, but also curved structures. And as if this were not enough, the material, reminiscent of marble, is stronger than concrete and does not need to be reinforced with an iron mesh inside.
For now, Dini has already started talks with the British architect Norman Foster and Alta Space in order to participate in the Aurora program of the European Space Agency (ESA) by building a D-Shape printer that uses regolith (moon dust) as a raw material. . Its first tests will be carried out in a vacuum chamber at Alta Space’s facility in Pisa, to ensure that the device would work in an environment with little atmosphere like that of the lunar surface.
