from the if-you-build-it-they-will-come dept.
Submitted via IRC for takyon
Although a recent NASA-supported study found Mars cannot be made inhabitable with our current technology, this hasn't stopped the space agency from continuing its plans to one day colonize the red planet. One such initiative launched in 2015 is the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. The $2.5 million competition, now in its third phase, seeks to find the most adequate housing for future Martian residents. The challenge also hopes to uncover advanced construction technologies that may be used in sustainable housing solutions for Earth as well.
Now, NASA and its competition partner Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois, have selected the five winning teams out of 18 submissions from around the world. The winners will share the $100,000 prize and will have to create 3D-printed one-third-scale versions of their designs to confirm their models' feasibility.
[...] "We are thrilled to see the success of this diverse group of teams that have approached this competition in their own unique styles," said in a statement Monsi Roman, program manager for NASA's Centennial Challenges. "They are not just designing structures, they are designing habitats that will allow our space explorers to live and work on other planets. We are excited to see their designs come to life as the competition moves forward."
(Score: 3, Funny) by ikanreed on Wednesday August 08 2018, @02:33PM (4 children)
We're now getting reports that Elon Musk is calling all the contest winners pedophiles after they said he didn't actually help them with their designs.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 08 2018, @02:38PM (3 children)
Mars is a big place.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday August 08 2018, @02:53PM (1 child)
I think you maybe took my post in a more serious tone than it was intended.
I don't mind Elon's efforts to go to mars. I just think he's a hilariously inept shithead that somehow got billions of dollars and millions of fans. And some of his recent ineptness has been really really off-the-wall. I think money contains a chemical that destroys your brain or something.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 08 2018, @03:06PM
No, I'm implying that Mars could be a colonization target for libertarians and pedos.
It's a huge unclaimed land mass with no governance. Unlike seasteads or Antarctica, nobody can get to you in under 2 months.
Sex on a Mars Colony [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 08 2018, @03:41PM
And it is known that paedophiles exist only in constricted spaces, such as submerged passage in Thailand caverns. (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday August 08 2018, @03:03PM (11 children)
It happens that Iron is the most-stable element. Every lighter element gives up energy when you fuse it, every heavier one gives up energy when you fizz it.
Mars doesn't have a magnetic field to deflect solar radiation. It's atmosphere I expect to too thin to shield from cosmic rays.
But you could cover your habitat with a few feet of Martian soil.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday August 08 2018, @03:17PM (9 children)
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/11506/what-other-shielding-material-than-lead-is-effective-against-gamma-rays [stackexchange.com]
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/a-new-home-on-mars-nasa-langley-s-icy-concept-for-living-on-the-red-planet [nasa.gov]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday August 08 2018, @03:44PM (1 child)
Gamma rays aren't the part of solar radiation that fuck you up. As hot as the sun is, most of its damaging photonic radiation is just UV. The stuff our atmosphere and magnetic field protect against are alpha particles and hydrogen atoms.
Being slightly underground/inside thick walls will mediate the risk of those to negligible levels.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday August 08 2018, @09:10PM
And if gamma rays were a problem, a bit of paraffin outside the inner shielding would solve that problem, too. Or perhaps ice would be better. You'd need a bit more, but it would be easier to shape, and available in case of unexpected need for water. Still, ice would need to be cold enough to protect against sumlimation, though I guess a layer of oil on top of it might solve that problem.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday August 08 2018, @04:09PM (6 children)
But what will shield us from tachyons?
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Wednesday August 08 2018, @04:09PM (5 children)
Dark matter.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday August 08 2018, @05:19PM (4 children)
Hmmm. I can't argue- so far it's working well. Will dark matter shield us from dark energy?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 08 2018, @05:23PM (3 children)
Dark energy is holding back the antimatter universe.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday August 08 2018, @05:39PM (2 children)
Are you sure you're allowed to tell us all of that?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @06:42PM (1 child)
As long as you avoid the Devron system, you'll be fine.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday August 08 2018, @09:27PM
True that. I forget, is that where Skaro is? I'm trying to avoid that one too.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday August 08 2018, @04:46PM
Is there a benefit for early missions to build anything ? Building is energy-intensive, and energy is expensive on Mars.
Find a few nice caves, land close, get all the shielding you need.
If you want to setup a solar-powered robot to make Boring Bricks or 3D printing at glacial pace, that's step 2 or 3, not something you'd do early.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Wednesday August 08 2018, @04:06PM (7 children)
INhabitable means habitable? What a country!
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 08 2018, @07:35PM (1 child)
Inflammable means flammable, impassive means passive, irradiated means radiated.
What a language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Wednesday August 08 2018, @08:40PM
This all sounds impossible.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday August 08 2018, @09:13PM (2 children)
Well, actually that's not what the report said. What it actually said was that current technologies probably aren't advanced enough to terraform Mars. That's probably true, but it's a very different statement. It's like saying you can't inhabit Antarctica.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @09:51PM (1 child)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:35AM
There's those science stations inhabited on a continual basis. So um, already no.
First, the science stations are already moderately self-sufficient in a critical way. They generate enough value to their parent countries to receive the goods they need to survive. It's definitely not self-sufficient in your sense, but it does mean that those stations aren't going away any time soon, such persistence being a common important trait of self-sustaining colonies.
So it's just a matter of closing the gap between permanent station and self-sustaining colony. While that hasn't been done yet, we need to keep in mind that there are powerful institutional obstructions to constructing self-sustaining colonies in Antarctica. It's illegal via the Antarctica Treaty for every country with the know-how to do so. So if a group wants to colonize Antarctica, they first have to figure out how to deal with the legal blowback. That can include economic blockades, seizure of assets outside of Antarctica, and even invasion. Virtually all of the support that the existing science stations could provide will be withheld from them, artificially increasing the difficulty of building a colony.
While it's presently a substantial obstacle, I wouldn't consider it a reason to say we "can't" build such colonies. My take is that we're probably not that far away from the end of the treaty. And when that happens, then the establishment of permanent colonies will soon follow.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Freeman on Wednesday August 08 2018, @10:08PM
Yes, and uninhabitable means not habitable.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday August 09 2018, @02:30AM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8mD2hsxrhQ# [youtube.com]
Season 12 was 2000/2001
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday August 08 2018, @05:01PM
* Does it have a singular central circulating fan that the powers that be can use to control the colonists with?
* Will it form the base for United Aerospace Corporation to build its labs there?
* Can Dr. Manhattan hang out there?
* In an emergency can a lone survivor farm potatoes on its floor if fertilized processed dirt is added?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @07:32PM (3 children)
no cave-men on mars : (
but surely just one tunnel digging machine is the same logistical nightmare to transport to mars as one habitat?
however, one digging machine could make many many kilometers of shielded spaghetti tunnels ... and in the process mine some ore?
ofc, nobody wants to leave their high-tech future design earth mansion just to go live in a cave on mars ... thus design!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday August 08 2018, @07:40PM
Just find some lava tubes [wikipedia.org], there should be many on Olympus mons [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @09:00PM (1 child)
So a 3D printed boring machine?
How do you 3D print hardened steal cutting heads?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @10:05PM