Parabolic Arc is reporting that NASA has selected Bob Zubrin’s Pioneer Astronautics for two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II awards for continuing research on developing technologies for in-situ resource utilization on Mars. http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/05/23/bob-zubrins-pioneer-astronautics-selected-nasa-sbir-phase-ii-awards/#more-68982
Solar additive manufacturing using lunar regolith
Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the European Space Agency have published a paper in in the November 2018 Acta Astronautica demonstrating the feasibility of using solar energy to sinter lunar regolith in additive manufacturing. The in-situ resource utilization technique can be used to automate building roads and shielding lunar habitats prior to arrival of astronauts. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576518303874