The 3D Printed Mars Habitat Challenge organized by NASA results are out. There were more than 165 submissions that were then narrowed to 30 best entries. The first-place award of $25,000 went to Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office for their design, Mars Ice House.
The second place was grabbed by Team Gamma for their habitat design. It got a prize of $15,000.
All this is going to change now after NASA confirmed that there is evidence of flowing water. This water could be used for building the future human colonies on the red planet.
Mars Ice House was conceptually simple and envisages a multilayer pressurized shell of ice that encloses a habitat and gardens. It takes help of the persistent low temperature on the Red Planet and abundance of water.
The proposal will use a Lander, which will form the shelter and the base with both private and communal spaces. Once at the site, it will deploy an inflatable membrane to create an artificial environment between the outside of the man-made structure and the Mars atmosphere.
Next the Rovers will extract water from Alba Mons and use it to make a protective skin on the inside of the inflatable structure.
The ice layer will serve as a protection against radiation coming from outer space. The structure will be translucent and allow light into the habitat. The ice layer will be kept frozen permanently, and vegetation will be grown for food as well as Oxygen.
