The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is 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 is designed to advance the construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions for Earth and beyond. The competition offers a $3.15 million total prize purse.
HASSELL and London-based engineering firm Eckersley O'Callaghanhas have been shortlisted in the top ten for NASA’s 3D Printing Centennial Challenge, which is a design competition for human habitation on Mars. The competition sought perspectives from outside the aerospace industry, to explore how a human habitat could be designed and delivered on Mars using autonomous 3D printing technologies and sustainable design practices.
If there was life on Mars, where would people live – and what would it look like? HASSELL set out to design the perfect habitat for space explorers on the red planet as part of NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Challenge.
Their team was shortlisted to design the world’s first human home on Mars as part of this international competition, run by Bradley University (USA) on behalf of NASA.
It called on teams to invent a living and working environment for four astronauts, using only local Martian resources or recycled materials from the Mars lander.
A habitat built by robots…with Martian materials
HASSELL and structural engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan (EOC) designed an external shell that autonomous robots could build using nothing more than the planet’s natural regolith. This would allow exploration teams to arrive to a degree of protection from the harsh elements.
After landing, the astronauts would quickly construct the building’s interior – a series of inflatable ‘pods’ with everything they would need for their work and life on Mars.
The comforts of Earth…in a space-age place
Our aim was to bring a more human element to space design, typically all about maximum efficiency and performance for technology and machines – but not for people.
This habitat fulfils those functional needs, but still feels comfortable and familiar for the astronauts, like their homes back on Earth. It’s the kind of safe, secure place they need while doing the most important work in the history of space exploration.
HASSELL and EOC were shortlisted as a top 10 entry in the challenge, with final winners announced in early 2019.
The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is managed through a partnership with NASA’s Centennial Challenges program and Bradley University.