NASA has announced three winners of their latest level in NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. It’s a competition to design and develop sustainable shelters suitable for Mars, Moon, and beyond, using resources available on-site in these locations. It challenges the teams to test their skills in several areas such as 3D printing, modeling software, material development, and construction. It is hoped that this 3D habitat can really aid human space exploration, all technologies from this competition could also lead to lower-cost housing solutions on Earth. The latest level of this competition is to complete virtual construction, and here are the top three that have been awarded a share of $100,000 prize.
- SEArch+/Apis Cor – New York – $33,954.11
- Zopherus – Rogers, Arkansas – $33,422.01
- Mars Incubator – New Haven, Connecticut – $32,623.88
First Place: SEArch+/Apis Cor – New York
Second Place: Zopherus – Rogers, Arkansas
Mars Incubator – New Haven, Connecticut
When you come right down and think about it, why are Space Habitats required to look like Space Ship and not simply Habital Dwellings. Their not going anywhere after being constructed, so no need for Landing Gear Struts…
Well, there are many factors considered when you build a home/dwelling out of space, such as no air, extreme temperature changes, weak gravity, extreme dust storms in Mars, etc.