Tackling construction’s toughest jobs on Earth — and the moon
Seed funding will help launch research into autonomous construction methods for hazardous jobsites and harsh lunar environments.
A NASA concept rendering imagines sustained operations at a moon base, where astronauts, rovers, habitats and power systems work together on the lunar surface.
Credit: NASA
What do Texas highway work zones and future moon landings have in common? For Dr. Patrick Suermann, both point to the same challenge: how to make construction safer, smarter and more autonomous.
That vision recently earned Suermann, a professor of construction science at Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture and a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, seed funding for a new project exploring how autonomous earthmoving could improve safety on Earth while helping build infrastructure on the moon.
Suermann said making construction autonomous is not about removing people from the construction industry. Instead, workers would move away from repetitive, high-risk tasks and into roles where they supervise and improve the machines performing them.
“The goal is to remove people from the dull, dirty and dangerous aspects of construction whenever possible,” Suermann said.
Taking workers out of harm’s way
Suermann’s winning proposal focuses on work that is essential to construction but often repetitive, hazardous and difficult to perform in extreme conditions.
The importance of that work is easy to see on Earth.
In 2025, Texas recorded more than 28,000 work-zone crashes, resulting in 203 fatalities, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Seven of those killed were roadside workers actively working in or near construction zones.
“If we can remove humans from this risk and get this to zero, then it will be worth it,” Suermann said.
He added that the same types of rugged, durable autonomous systems that could work continuously in space could also improve productivity and safety on construction projects in Texas.
The moon has a construction problem
Those autonomous systems could also help solve another major challenge: how to build on the moon.
Future lunar missions will require durable landing pads to reduce the dangerous dust plumes created during spacecraft landings and departures.
High-velocity dust and debris generated by rocket exhaust can damage spacecraft, equipment and nearby assets, making landing pad construction a critical part of sustained lunar operations.
“If we don’t get that right, we will be sandblasting every piece of equipment with the equivalent of a mix of sand, gravel and glass shards,” Suermann said.
To study those challenges, Suermann’s project will use simulation, digital twin modeling and autonomous equipment control frameworks to evaluate how machines could handle excavation, grading, movement of lunar regolith and landing pad formation with minimal human intervention.
A launchpad for bigger research
The project also builds on Texas A&M’s continued lunar construction research efforts, including the Extraterrestrial Engineering and Construction (EXTEC) initiative, which advances construction solutions for lunar and Martian operations, and the Texas A&M University Space Institute.
Suermann said Texas is particularly well-positioned for this work because of its concentration of commercial space companies, creating opportunities to connect terrestrial construction expertise with aerospace rover development.
The project will receive $30,000 in CIAC seed funding to generate preliminary results for larger future proposals. The funding will help Suermann’s research team strengthen industry partnerships and develop a competitive portfolio for future NASA, NSF, Department of Defense and industry-sponsored research opportunities.
The award will also fund an incoming Ph.D. student, Chi Lan Huynh, who holds a master’s degree in space architecture from the University of Houston’s Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture.
Huynh said autonomous systems will be essential for future lunar construction, where even routine jobsite tasks become dangerous and resource-intensive.
“On the moon, there is no luxury like Earth offers: no atmosphere, no ambient temperature, no breathable air, no protection from radiation and no easy way to just walk over and fix something,” Huynh said. “Autonomous construction is not an option on the moon but a requirement to keep astronauts out of the danger zone.”
