NASA has announced the shortlisted designs for what could be the first human habitat on a planet other than Earth.
In May NASA offered a $2.3m prize for 3D printed designs that could be used on Mars; now the agency has released some of the best designs that it received.
The entries range from an "Ice House" (pictured) to a shell-and-membrane system and a free-standing "Martian Vault", which could use be constructed using inflatable scaffoling and 3D-printing robots.
Team Staye have dreamed up a silo-shaped, multi-level corkscrew (pictured) that would bore into the Equatorial Frozen Sea. This would use cement 3D printing to create walls, furniture, and more.
ARCH devised a doughnut house (pictured) that would be made from reinforced Martian clay that could be constructed on the planet.
GAMMA have created a "semi-autonomous multi-robot regolith additive manufacturing system" (pictured) to create a "protective in situ shield around a modular inflatable hab".
The Ancile-Hab: Shield of Mars has been devised by SICSA, and is an adaptable power plant that can easily print 3D structures to create more habitats.
On September 26 and 27 the 30 finalists will be showcased at NYC Maker Faire. Winners will be selected at the event.
One finalist will be in with the chance of winning $50,000, and a $1.1m prize will be given to the devisor of fabricating technology.
Images via Tumblr
Comments
Comments are closed.
Seeing that we cannot survive on carbon dioxide maybe NASA should ,for a start, build and test in use such ” winning” prototypes in the most highly air polluted part of our own mother earth first! Hopefully they
already have some genuine Martian clay they can copy from because if it does not work on earth I really do not fancy its chances on the face of Mars!