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from the give-me-a-rover-with-a-long-enough-arm-and-I-will-build-a-world dept.
AI SpaceFactory was named the final winner in NASA's competition to use 3D printing technology to build a habitat that could be used on the Moon or Mars.
AI SpaceFactory will receive $500,000 for winning the competition with second-place Penn State receiving $200,000.
The winning habitat, called Marsha, is tall and slim, to reduce the need for construction rovers on unfamiliar terrain, according to AI SpaceFactory. It is designed to be built on a vertically telescoping arm attached to a rover, which stays still during construction.
Marsha was built using a biopolymer basalt composite, "a biodegradable and recyclable material derived from natural materials found on Mars." It proved superior to concrete in NASA's pressure, smoke, and impact testing.
The final stage of the competition ran from May 1 through May 4 in Peoria Illinois in partnership with Bradley University and was hosted by Caterpillar inc.. Other sponsors included Bechtel, Brick & Mortar Ventures and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The competition was part of NASA's Centenial Challenges program. Which also includes the
Cube Quest Challenge
Space Robotics Challenge
Vascular Tissue Challenge
CO₂ Conversion Challenge
We developed these technologies for Space, but they have the potential to transform the way we build on Earth," said David Malott, CEO and Founder of AI SpaceFactory. "By using natural, biodegradable materials grown from crops, we could eliminate the building industry's massive waste of unrecyclable concrete and restore our planet.
AI SpaceFactory plans to adapt Marsha's design for an eco-friendly Earth habitat called Tera; a crowdfunding campaign will begin shortly on IndieGogo, the design agency said in a statement.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Sunday May 12 2019, @02:10PM
They're probably right about structural concerns, but seem to overlook one of the most important features of a martian habitat: radiation shielding. You want several meters of rock between you and the sky to get anything like the radiation shielding offered by Earth's atmosphere. Instead they seem to have relatively thin walls, and a frigging skylight as the roof!
Still, the 3D printer hardware seems like it would have a lot of potential. Seems like you should be able to print a large dome surrounding the printer instead of a small one off to one side, with a doorway large enough to drive the retracted printer out of when you're done, and a structure either several meters thick, or capable of supporting the weight of being buried under that much sand.
There's also the minor detail that a larger diameter delivers a greater interior area for a given amount of perimeter. The wall thickness does need to increase linearly with the diameter of a pressure vessel, so the ratio of wall volume to interior volume doesn't actually change - but if you want thick walls for radiation shielding, you might as well put them to work as a pressure vessel as well.
Alternatively, you might have such thin-walled pressure habitats all under a larger "open air" radiation dome - they could even be integrated as support columns. Presumably you'd eventually want to seal and pressurize the large dome as well, but that could be more of a challenge to maintain integrity, and having fall-back options in case of a breach would be invaluable. As would having a "drive in" garage early on where you could work on equipment in a lightweight pressure suit with no radiation shielding needed.