Building a moon base is a tricky task because in theory you have to haul every bit of equipment you'd need off the surface of the Earth into orbit, then bus it over to the Moon [3] and land it on the Lunar soil. It promises to be a hugely complex, expensive and risky business. Which explains why the European Space Agency is experimenting [4] with 3-D printing [5], with the intention of mixing moon dust with some other chemicals and then printing out buildings on the moon's surface.

It's a plan that makes sense in a large number of ways, and there's already a growing precedent in the form of 3-D printed building [6] projects [7] here on Earth. And lest you worry the results will be ugly, famous architects Foster & Partners are involved in the plan.

Is this plan as crazy as it sounds, or do you believe it's better than launching huge rocket after huge rocket to establish a Lunar base?