NASA is facing a big problem when they get to Mars at some point in the future, and they think they have a pretty awesome solution: they’ll build houses with 3D printing, and they will use dirt and soil on the Red Planet to do so. NASA is currently in the midst of studying how to build houses for the astronauts, and that’s the plan they’ve put on the table to accomplish it.

NASA hopes to send its first manned spacecraft to Mars in the 2030s, an ambitious plan especially with all the logistical hurdles still facing the mission. But a 3D printer could solve one of those problems by allowing astronauts to construct houses using materials on the planet.

Basically, they would use additive manufacturing techniques to create blocks that could be assembled into a home. The soil on Mars is composed of regolith, which can be put into a machine, heated to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit, and then turned into both melted metals and oxygen via electrolysis to give astronauts the materials they need for home construction.