CBS 60 MinutesTexas company 3D printing houses on Earth, partnering with NASA to 3D print infrastructure on the moon

There was a time when futurists were predicting that the advent of 3D printing was going to change our lives.. that each of our houses would have a 3D printer to make whatever items we need. What virtually no one predicted, though, was that there might soon be 3D printers that could construct almost the entire house.

But that’s just what a 6-year-old Austin, Texas company called Icon is doing.. 3D printing buildings. And if you believe Icon’s mission-driven young founder, 3D printing could revolutionize how we build, help create affordable housing, even allow us, to.. wait for it.. colonize the moon. Sound out of this world? Take a look..

What you’re watching is the building.. actually, the printing, of a 4-bedroom home. On this construction site, there’s no hammering or sawing, just a nozzle squirting out concrete — kind of like an oversized soft serve ice cream dispenser — laying down the walls of a house one layer at a time. It’s the brainchild of a 41-year-old Texan who’s rarely without a cowboy hat, Jason Ballard.

By Lesley Stahl