As a doctoral student in the United States, Daniel Gomez Pizano —now a professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the Universidad del Valle— analyzed structures on the lunar surface constructed by 3D printing, from local materials. Now he has a well-funded research project to do the same with the remote communities of Cauca, in southern Colombia.
Over four years, there will be $9.56 billion Colombian pesos (COP) (about $US 2.5 million) in funding from the General System of Royalties of the department (state) of Cauca, $3.31 billion COP ($US 862,000) from the University Del Valle and $180 million COP ($US 47,000) from the University of Cauca.
Photo: A graph representing a structure under the surface of the moon: Credit: Carlos Andres Patiño.
"I am a civil engineer, so I wanted to know how we could design and build structures on the Moon or Mars," he said.
Gómez was part of a group that seeks to understand which factors to take into account to build lunar habitats on the surface and in extinct lava tubes, but what really caught his attention was 3D printing using any material available to hand.
"From an economic point of view, it is not feasible to take conventional construction materials into space," said Gómez, "so you have to build with the materials that are available on the site."
Professor Dyke would go on to win millions of US dollars in funding to establish Resilient Extra-Terrestrial Habitats Institute (RETHi), a NASA-funded Space Technology Research Institute.
Gomez, on the other hand, says that his ambitions “came back down to Earth”, applying what he had learned through his lunar research to solve real-world problems in Colombia, particularly in the departments (states) of Valle Del Cauca y Cauca.
Soon his attention turned to Valle and Cauca, in southwestern Colombia that have sub-regions that are also remote, prone to high seismic threats, and that need to rely on their own resources.
According to Colombian governmental statistics, in 2019, it was estimated that 36.59% of the Colombian population was experiencing housing deficit: they didn’t have a roof to live under, or they lived in poor-quality housing.
Exacerbating this trend is the difficulty in transporting building materials to the places where people live.
This trend is exacerbated by the high cost of transporting construction materials to rural areas.
"3D printing technology for home construction has been developing rapidly with the use of conventional materials," said Gomez, adding that most printing technologies are being carried out for materials based on Portland cement, a material which is expensive to produce and transport to remote regions.
Gómez explained that the innovative part of the project, which he expects to be launched in November, is to develop a technological solution based on 3D printing with the aim of sustainability, adaptability and efficiency for the construction of houses and rural infrastructure from available raw materials in the department of Cauca.
"We want to be pioneers in this work, at the moment there are no other groups working in this very specific area in Colombia, which is printing with unconventional materials ... that is why in this project we have a group of experts from the Universidad del Valle and the University of Cauca in materials, soils, seismic design, constructions, large-scale structural tests and numerical modeling of structures, which guarantees the sound development of the project, ”said Gómez.
“NASA has some moon soil printers, but they aren't looking to a system of printing for the housing,” he said, adding that the raw materials in the case of Cauca would be not only soil, but also other discarded materials.
“Every part of Cauca has their own style and way to construct homes: from the seashore all the way up to the high mountains and part of the project is to make sure that we respect the architectural and cultural traditions of these places.”
The hope is that by the end of the project, the technology will be cheap and replicable enough that these structures can be built not only in Cauca, but across Colombia and the world at an affordable price.
He stated that although Univalle already works on 3D printing and a large part of the knowledge of this technology is from Univalle, the University of Cauca has a deep knowledge of the socio-cultural, geological and geotechnical conditions essential for the development of this project.
"Public universities have the fundamental obligation to transfer the results of applied research projects to communities, respecting their worldview and their own development models," he said.
"If we want to inhabit the Moon, there are many challenges that we will have to overcome," said Gomez.
One of these challenges is the large amount of seismic activity found on the Moon.
This is why professors Alejandro Cruz and Daniel Gómez, among others, completed a research project in which they evaluated the lunar seismic threat using earthquake data recorded by the Apollo program between 1969 and 1978. This project is currently under evaluation. two articles: "Preliminary seismic analysis of a long-lived lunar habitat independent of the Earth" and "Preliminary approach for the seismic threat assessment of the Moon".
"Here on Earth, a seismic event can last less than a minute, but Moonquakes, that is, seismic events on the Moon, can last up to three hours, so they should be considered in the structural analysis of a lunar habitat," Gomez said.
Banner Photo: Univalle Professor Daniel Gomez, project manager Melissa Herazo, and UniCauca Professor Jaime Obando (Left to right) Credit: Andrew James NCC/Univalle
Building On The Moon
While studying under Professor Shirley J. Dyke at Purdue University in Indiana, Gomez was inspired by the challenges of turning science fiction into scientific fact, designing habitats on the Moon that were capable of withstanding meteorites, earthquakes, radiation, and extreme temperature changes."I am a civil engineer, so I wanted to know how we could design and build structures on the Moon or Mars," he said.
Gómez was part of a group that seeks to understand which factors to take into account to build lunar habitats on the surface and in extinct lava tubes, but what really caught his attention was 3D printing using any material available to hand.
"From an economic point of view, it is not feasible to take conventional construction materials into space," said Gómez, "so you have to build with the materials that are available on the site."
Professor Dyke would go on to win millions of US dollars in funding to establish Resilient Extra-Terrestrial Habitats Institute (RETHi), a NASA-funded Space Technology Research Institute.
Gomez, on the other hand, says that his ambitions “came back down to Earth”, applying what he had learned through his lunar research to solve real-world problems in Colombia, particularly in the departments (states) of Valle Del Cauca y Cauca.
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| Photo: Photomontage of the lunar surface with a landscape in the department of Cauca, Colombia. Credit: NASA/Wikimedia/ Edgar Bejarano / NCC Univalle. |
Building in Cauca
In 2019, Gomez returned to Colombia and is now the director of the Intelligent and Resilient Civil Infrastructure Research Group (RISK).Soon his attention turned to Valle and Cauca, in southwestern Colombia that have sub-regions that are also remote, prone to high seismic threats, and that need to rely on their own resources.
According to Colombian governmental statistics, in 2019, it was estimated that 36.59% of the Colombian population was experiencing housing deficit: they didn’t have a roof to live under, or they lived in poor-quality housing.
Exacerbating this trend is the difficulty in transporting building materials to the places where people live.
This trend is exacerbated by the high cost of transporting construction materials to rural areas.
"3D printing technology for home construction has been developing rapidly with the use of conventional materials," said Gomez, adding that most printing technologies are being carried out for materials based on Portland cement, a material which is expensive to produce and transport to remote regions.
Gómez explained that the innovative part of the project, which he expects to be launched in November, is to develop a technological solution based on 3D printing with the aim of sustainability, adaptability and efficiency for the construction of houses and rural infrastructure from available raw materials in the department of Cauca.
"We want to be pioneers in this work, at the moment there are no other groups working in this very specific area in Colombia, which is printing with unconventional materials ... that is why in this project we have a group of experts from the Universidad del Valle and the University of Cauca in materials, soils, seismic design, constructions, large-scale structural tests and numerical modeling of structures, which guarantees the sound development of the project, ”said Gómez.
“NASA has some moon soil printers, but they aren't looking to a system of printing for the housing,” he said, adding that the raw materials in the case of Cauca would be not only soil, but also other discarded materials.
“Every part of Cauca has their own style and way to construct homes: from the seashore all the way up to the high mountains and part of the project is to make sure that we respect the architectural and cultural traditions of these places.”
The hope is that by the end of the project, the technology will be cheap and replicable enough that these structures can be built not only in Cauca, but across Colombia and the world at an affordable price.
Collaboration with UniCauca
One of the key collaborators in the project is Professor Jaime Rafael Obando Ante, Professor of the Department of Geotechnics, attached to the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Cauca (UniCauca).He stated that although Univalle already works on 3D printing and a large part of the knowledge of this technology is from Univalle, the University of Cauca has a deep knowledge of the socio-cultural, geological and geotechnical conditions essential for the development of this project.
"Public universities have the fundamental obligation to transfer the results of applied research projects to communities, respecting their worldview and their own development models," he said.
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| Photo: A graphic representing a structure under the surface of the moon: Credit: Carlos Andres Patiño. |
Other Moon Projects
The 3D printing project is not the only research line of the RISK group of the Universidad del Valle (Univalle) that has been inspired by the events on the Moon."If we want to inhabit the Moon, there are many challenges that we will have to overcome," said Gomez.
One of these challenges is the large amount of seismic activity found on the Moon.
This is why professors Alejandro Cruz and Daniel Gómez, among others, completed a research project in which they evaluated the lunar seismic threat using earthquake data recorded by the Apollo program between 1969 and 1978. This project is currently under evaluation. two articles: "Preliminary seismic analysis of a long-lived lunar habitat independent of the Earth" and "Preliminary approach for the seismic threat assessment of the Moon".
"Here on Earth, a seismic event can last less than a minute, but Moonquakes, that is, seismic events on the Moon, can last up to three hours, so they should be considered in the structural analysis of a lunar habitat," Gomez said.
Banner Photo: Univalle Professor Daniel Gomez, project manager Melissa Herazo, and UniCauca Professor Jaime Obando (Left to right) Credit: Andrew James NCC/Univalle
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