NASA Awarded Five Teams $100,000 in 3D-Printed Habitat Competition

NASA's Centennial Challenges: 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge

The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge was a NASA’s Centennial Challenges program competition to build a 3D-printed habitat for deep space exploration, including the agency’s journey to the Moon, Mars or beyond. The multi-phase challenge was designed to advance the construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions for Earth and beyond. The competition, completed in 2019, awarded a total of $2,061,023.

Phase 1, the Design Competition, required teams to submit architectural renderings and was completed in 2015. ($50,000 prize purse/$40,000 awarded)

Phase 2, the Structural Member Competition, focused on material technologies, requiring teams to create structural components. It was completed in 2017. ($1.1 million prize purse/$701,000 awarded)

Phase 3 the On-Site Habitat Competition, completed in 2019, challenged competitors to fabricate sub-scale habitats, and had five levels of competition – three construction levels and two virtual levels. For the virtual levels, teams used Building Information Modeling software to design a habitat that combined allowances for both the structure and systems it must contain. The construction levels challenged the teams to autonomously 3D-print elements of the habitat, culminating with a one-third-scale printed habitat for the final level. ($3.15M prize purse/ $2M awarded)

00:00 ● Intro

00:14 ● Intro Video: Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners New York’s design for a modular habitat on Mars has been shortlisted amongst 30 finalists for the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge
organised by America Makes and NASA.

The design outlines plans for a settlement on Mars constructed by an array of pre-programmed, semi-autonomous robots prior to the eventual arrival of the astronauts. The design of the habitat – carried out in collaboration with industrial and academic partners – envisions a robust 3D-printed dwelling for up to four astronauts constructed using regolith – the loose soil and rocks found on the surface of Mars. The proposal considers multiple aspects of the project from delivery and deployment to construction and operations. The habitat will be delivered in two stages prior to the arrival of the astronauts.

NASA Awarded Five Teams $100,000 in 3D-Printed Habitat Competition as below:

The Winners
01:48 ● 5. Northwestern University
The fifth place was awarded to a team from Northwestern University, in Evanston, Ill., for its straightforward 3D-printing process. The housing pod features an inflatable, dome-shaped pressure vessel that provides the form over which the 3D printer will output an outer parabolic dome.

06:22 ● 4. SEArch+/Apis Cor
New York–based Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+) and Russian hardware startup Apis Cor were awarded the fourth place for their X-House proposal, a dual-shell housing module inspired by Alvar Aalto's Church of the Assumption of Mary, in Riola di Vergato, Italy. Constructed from materials harvested from the Martian surface, the X-House is designed to protect the residents from galactic cosmic radiation.

10:35 ● 3. Kahn Yates
A team made up of Detroit-based architecture firm Albert Kahn Associates and Jackson, Miss., office of Yates Construction came in third place with a proposal designed to withstand the red planet's inhabitable climate and dust storms. The proposal features a five-axis print arm that would extend from the top of a prefabricated core to print the module's foundation and perforated concrete shell using local materials. Concurrently, secondary printing nozzles will begin making a protective shell using high-density, petroleum-based polyethlene thermoplastic that is known for its high strength-to-density ratio.

14:27 ● 2. AI. SpaceFactory
The second place went to New York–based AI. SpaceFactory for its Marsha habitat, a vertical, double-shell, cylindrical structure 3D printed with "a vertically telescoping arm attached to a stationary rover," according to the team's website. By mixing basalt fiber extracted from Martian rocks with biodegradable thermoplastic derived from plants grown on Mars, the team has developed a recyclable printing material.

19:12 ● 1. Team Zopherus
First place was awarded to a team from Rogers, Ark., for its Zopherus modular habitat. The design features an autonomous moving robot with an integrated printer chamber that seals to the ground and 3D prints hexagonal structures in its pressurized interior cabin, using materials extracted from the Martian surface, all without any human interference.

#NASA #marshabitat #3dprintedhabitat
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[godDIEmanLIVE]

Step 11: founding of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

[JasonRule-]

Why did you say "Mars is the nearest planet to Earth?" Venus is 10 million miles closer to Earth than Mars at its closest distance.

[chrisfreeman]

Yeah i have to agree the marsha one seems more feasible than the rest

[NatureDoublethink]

The vertical one seems miles ahead the best (like I know anything about it!)

[MG-erdm]

The great minds of the future aren't holding back! Thanks Nasa. 😍

[CHMichael]

Let's send one to the moon and see if it works. 5y plan ?

[lolmdr]

What energies are used to built the zurfus habitat ?
Thanks for your help.

[TheLastStarfighter]

By the way you might want to check which is the closest planet to Earth?

[notlessgrossman]

Ceramic tile flooring in the washrooms;, great, i guess tile manufacture will be in place before colony ship arrives. Why do these presentations remind me of design school projects?

[paullangford]

Most likely, a habitat would be constructed by tunneling into the side of a crater or cliff, then lining it with impermeable material to retain atmosphere. This would provide a safe rock cover to block radiation, and would not require the provision of much in the way of materials.

[mdc]

What's with the robotic voices? I did enjoy the Nimoy voice, however.

[paulmerritt]

Just curious. Would dyeing/painting these structures in Vanta Black assist in thermal gathering in a passive sense?
Also, if enough structures could be built, but colored in Vanta Black, what number would be need to passively heat the surrounding martian terrain to an appreciable degree?
In terms of a potential dome city, even the delta of a single degree increase could be helpful.

[PacoOtis]

Q: Why the horrible music? Q: Did an adult review this video prior to release? Best of luck!

[tonyug]

interesting that only one solution actually gives shuttable doors to the rooms - can't have architectural beauty destroyed by actual practicality can we. I f you have people stuck in close proximity being able to sgut evryone else out with a door occasionaly would be a lifesaver and psychological necessity. And also the ridiculous notion of children on mars in the forseeable future -- 1/3 gravity - what would that do to their body development - and would they ever be able to go back to earth..

[dwurpee]

this is the legendary fourth comment :D

[alexdye]

These are overly complicated. Elon Musk started a boring company, not to bore high speed tunnels but to live underground on Mars. There is little natural light on Mars anyway, we need to figure out how to set up nuclear power on Mars, for food production.

[tonyug]

interesting - though a little too much annoying voiceover littered with pointless ergonomic terms and a bit sparse on useful information -- ie how much of what needs to be transported from earth and what is sourced in-situ comparativly -- as far as i can tell the first two are sort of bigelow type inflatable pressure vessels basically prefab on earth with the mars regolith basically an independant radiation shield - the last 3 are more ambitious with possibly the last landing a re-usable building robot. They still all seem to use a thermoplastic feedstock (sourced from earth presumably) - i wonder which ones appeal to elon - as he is the most likely contender to make it to mars in the next decade - as these companies will be long dead before/if nasa get there.

[robotsix]

"inspired by nature/biology" is the space housing buzzword. Any proposal with the phrase should have automatically lost.

[CASLUICEBOX]

can not be done in a zero or near zero atmo. childern...stay in school! and water would vaporize desublimate and freeze. May be good for a movie. we are doomed if this is the best we have to offer.

[brookestephen]

Venus gets as close to Earth as 38 million km, and Mars gets as close as 55.7 million km.
Mars is NOT the nearest planet to earth, the first line of text in your video.