3D printed ice house wins NASA contest for Mars Habitation
nasa.gov
blogs.wsj.com
By Jun Hongo
The planet Mars is seen in an undated NASA image. NASA/Reuters
Note: This blog has been updated to include comments by a Japanese designer who was a part of the winning team.
Perhaps future Martians will live in houses made from ice created with 3-D printing technology.
A team that included two Japanese designers has won first place for its design of an “Ice House” for the red planet that uses 3-D printing technology, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
“Teams were judged on many factors, including architectural concept, design approach, habitability, innovation, functionality, Mars site selection and 3-D print constructability,” NASA said on its website. “The design competition is the first milestone of the 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge, which seeks to foster the development of new technologies necessary to additively manufacture a habitat using local indigenous materials with, or without, recyclable materials, in space and on Earth.”
Masayuki Sono and Yuko Sono were among the eight designers who worked on the Ice House. The winning design was created in consultation with astrophysicists, geologists and structural engineers, with a goal of utilizing water on Mars. NASA confirmed this week that it found signs of flowing salt water on the planet. |
