NASA Wants Your Help Figuring Out How to Build Space Habitats
If and when we send colonists to Mars and beyond, were going to need habitats unlike any weve built before. To encourage out-of-the box thinking, NASA and America Makes are kicking off a $2.25 million dollar competition to design and build 3D printed space habitats.
Image: Interstellar Mayflower, art by Stephan Martiniere
One of the biggest barriers to the construction of a space colony is shoring up the money to ship the building materials well need. Since it currently costs roughly 10 grand to blast a pound of anything off our planet, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs have been asking how we might get away with less cargo. Indeed, thats one of the main thrusts behind asteroid mining , which could offer spacefaring humans a bountiful supply of water and metals.
Other technologies that take advantage of in situ resources have been discussed in the context of a Martian habitat, but so far, the focus has been on how we might get enough water to drink and oxygen to breathe. While these vital pieces of the puzzle, we could save ourselves a lot of money and effort if we were able to manufacture infrastructure using indigenous materials, as well.
Which is where the new competition comes in. While some money is being offered for just plain awesome architectural concepts, the lions share of the prize pot focuses on the 3D printing technologies needed to fabricate infrastructure from in situ materials and recyclables.
NASA breaks it down for us:
The first phase of the competition, announced Saturday at the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, California, runs through Sept. 27. This phase, a design competition, calls on participants to develop state-of-the-art architectural concepts that take advantage of the unique capabilities 3-D printing offers. The top 30 submissions will be judged and a prize purse of $50,000 will be awarded at the 2015 World Maker Faire in New York.
The second phase of the competition is divided into two levels. The Structural Member Competition (Level 1) focuses on the fabrication technologies needed to manufacture structural components from a combination of indigenous materials and recyclables, or indigenous materials alone. The On-Site Habitat Competition (Level 2) challenges competitors to fabricate full-scale habitats using indigenous materials or indigenous materials combined with recyclables. Both levels open for registration Sept. 26, and each carries a $1.1 million prize.
So, if youve always thought you had a brilliant idea for how to build a Martian city or a deep space generation ship, nows your chance to find out. Worst case scenario, you come up with a cool concept. Best case, you become the architect or engineer behind humanitys first outer space colony, with generations of Martians and Alpha Centaurians singing your praises. Doesnt sound too bad either way. [ NASA ]
http://gizmodo.com/nasa-wants-your-help-figuring-out-how-to-build-space-ha-1705086485
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The beginning of the next step of space exploration
Should I be concerned that if we keep blasting mass away from Earth, that it lessens its weight, and therefor the centrifugal force of its orbit around the sun lessens so that the Earth will be drawn towards the sun? Or is the total mass replenished from the landing of meteors, etc? Just a thought.
Buzz
Wow that is more too deep and complex and issue for this early in the day
In other words "beats me!
Thanks for stopping by
This sounds very interesting! Do we know what the indigenous materials are?
Dowser
I am not sure, the article does not give that specific data and this is the first I have seen of this contest
I will keep my yes open for updates