3D printing lunar architecture with a novel cable-driven printer. (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Dianjin; Zhou, Dekai; Zhang, Guangyu; Shao, Guangbin; Li, Longqiu
• Is Part Of: Acta astronautica. Volume 189(2021)
• Page Start: 671
• Page End: 678
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: Lunar architecture -- Cable-driven printer -- Small weight -- Reconstruction; Astronautics -- Periodicals; Outer space -- Exploration -- Periodicals; Astronautics; Periodicals; 629.405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.09.034
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0094-5765

Abstract

Abstract: Considerable attention has been paid to the exploration of moon, especially the construction of lunar habitat. However, few studies are found working on the construction equipment being suitable for trans planetary transportation, assembly, and working in lunar environment. This paper proposed a novel cable-driven printer used to build lunar architecture. The pose measurement and control strategy of the printing system is proposed. To study the reconfiguration characteristic of the cable-driven printer, several trees with arbitrary locations were selected as the rack to reconstruct the system outdoors. The key factors such as the sensitivity of pose deviation to system parameters affecting the reconstruction performance is discussed. The forming space of the cable-driven printer is analyzed theoretically and the forming ability of the system is verified experimentally. It is found that the cable-driven printer has the advantages of simple structure, small weight, large forming space and good reconfiguration characteristic, which shows the great potential of the proposed cable-driven printer in the construction of lunar architecture. Highlights: We present a novel cable-driven printer for lunar architecture. The printer can be easily reconstructed on randomly selected lunar terrain. The printer has a large ratio of forming space to mass. We proposed the measurement and control strategy of the printer. The printer has a flexible printing posture thanks to a 6-DOF actuator.