SpaceX 3D prints building extension at Texas Starbase

Construction 3D printing blogger Jarret Gross, who has collaborated with 3dpbm in the past, just published a new video where he exclusively reveals the first concrete 3D printed building by SpaceX, using Apis Cor technology. It is a rather basic addition to a SpaceX community building called The Hub but it’s at SpaceX’s Starbase facility so that does make it quite exciting.

Apis Cor recently revealed it is currently working on the first and only 3D printed home (project) to participate and win an award in a Space Coast Parade of Homes. Apis Cor designed Impreza as the inaugural 3D printed home to be built on the Space Coast. Honoring the foundation of the Aerospace, Technology and Defense industries based in this area. This project may have attracted SpaceX’s attention from the company’s Space Coast HQ in Hawthorne, California.

We do know that SpaceX has invested in Velo3D, and its metal 3D printers for rocket production, and that both NASA and the ESA have extensively tested construction 3D printing technologies for interplanetary construction. Until today, however, SpaceX had shown no interest in testing construction 3D printing for its Mars colonization projects. This relatively small development does not mean that Musk is considering 3D printing habitable structures on Mars but it does mean he and his teams are aware of the technology’s basic capabilities.

As some would say: a small step for SpaceX, and a giant step for construction 3D printing.