Inside NASAs Challenge to 3D Print Future Habitats on Mars

NASA invited engineers and architects from around the world to design future habitats for Mars. Heres what they came up with.
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NASAs 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is a 4-year long competition centered around engineering habitats for deep space exploration, in this case Mars.

Mars has captivated our imagination for hundreds of years. The planets proximity and striking resemblance to Earth, and its potential to harbor life, has made Mars the target of many robotic missions.

But the surface of Mars is not as Earth-like as it might seem. With temperatures drastically changing each day, an inability to retain heat, and Mars total lack of a magnetospherethere is almost no protection against dangerous solar radiation or cosmic radiation. This means we have to be able to build a futuristic habitat on Mars that can protect us from the extreme environment.

Enter: The brightest space architects and engineers from across the globe competing to prove they have what it takes to build a Martian home for humanity.

Two teams went head to head to print their designs and work out various complications, like what materials would work best on Mars (hint: thermoplastics), to prove they have what it takes to build humanitys future home on Mars.

To learn more about the competition and what a future habitat might look like on Mars, check out this episode of Focal Point.

#NASA #Mars #Space #FocalPoint #Seeker #Science

Read More:

MARSHA by AI SpaceFactory
https://www.aispacefactory.com/marsha
In Space architecture, every design decision is of great consequence to the success of a mission. Since sustained social and mental health are also mission-critical, Space habitats must be designed to be rich, useful and interesting worlds onto themselves. Marsha, AI SpaceFactorys Mars habitat design, illustrates that the result can be both visionary and credible with an alien yet familiar beauty.

NASA's Centennial Challenges: 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/3DPHab/about.html
"The multi-phase challenge is designed to advance the construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions for Earth and beyond. "

How to Give Mars an Atmosphere, Maybe
http://nautil.us/blog/how-to-give-mars-an-atmosphere-maybe
"A potential result: an end to large-scale stripping of the Martian atmosphere by the solar wind, and a significant change in climate."


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