ICON 3D prints simulated mars habitat designed by bjarke ingels group for NASA
ICON announces its awarded subcontract to deliver a 3D-printed habitat, known as Mars Dune Alpha, at NASA's Johnson Space Center. the team will support the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) as part of NASA's 'the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog' (CHAPEA). ICON's next-gen 'Vulcan' construction system will fabricate a 1,700 square-foot structure designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). The work will simulate a realistic mars habitat to support long-duration, exploration-class space missions.
NASA has begun recruitment for the long-duration mars mission analog study inside the 3D-printed habitat. Applications to participate as crew are being accepted through the mid-september 2021 for the one-year analog mission that starts in fall 2022.
Mars Is Calling! NASA Is Recruiting for Yearlong Simulated Mars Mission
Each mission will consist of four crew members living and working in a 1,700-square-foot module 3D-printed by ICON, called Mars Dune Alpha. The habitat will simulate the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. Crew tasks may include simulated spacewalks, scientific research, use of virtual reality and robotic controls, and exchanging communications. The results will provide important scientific data to validate systems and develop solutions.
NASA is looking for healthy, motivated U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are non-smokers, age 30 to 55 years old, and proficient in English for effective communication between crew and mission control. Crew selection will follow standard NASA criteria for astronaut candidate applicants.
A master's degree in a STEM field such as engineering, mathematics, or biological, physical, or computer science from an accredited institution with at least two years of professional STEM experience or a minimum of one thousand hours piloting an aircraft is required. Candidates who have completed two years of work toward a doctoral program in STEM, or completed a medical degree, or a test pilot program will also be considered. Additionally, with four years of professional experience, applicants who have completed military officer training or a Bachelor of Science in a STEM field may be considered.
(Score: 2) by Frosty Piss on Tuesday August 10 2021, @02:09AM
Hey, it’s 3D PRINTED!!!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday August 10 2021, @02:29AM (10 children)
Spending a year locked up with people you can't get away pretending to be on Mars, knowing full well you'll never be given a chance to actually go there for real? I don't think so. I can understand some people might be willing to endure that to advance science, but I'd feel like doing all the gruntwork for none of the actual fun.
Not to mention, I'm fairly convinced no human will go to Mars in person anytime soon: robots have shown to do a much better jobs than we meatbags do for a lot less money, and the days of unlimited funds cold war stunts are long gone. So the only time actual human beings will be sent there will probably be after centuries of robot-driven terraforming, if we haven't destroyed the Earth in the meantime. What's the point of playing Mars explorers here on Earth at all then?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday August 10 2021, @02:39AM (7 children)
I do wonder how much they pay. After all they do have a few criteria you need to fulfill. Upside I guess is that you wont have many normal bills for a year. Still it feels more like a social experiment then a STEM one which kind of makes it weird that they demand STEM-degrees.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @02:40AM
It's geology camp.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday August 10 2021, @03:52AM (2 children)
Maybe STEM types are more easily kept busy with fake science tasks to complete every day. Or they're looking for people with a degree of autism, singlemindedness, or ability to focus long and hard on some problem, so they don't get on each other's nerves and snap as easily.
And yeah, I'm pretty sure it's 100% a social experiment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @04:31AM
Fuck the fake science tasks, I'd be practicing the trumpet every day from dawn to dusk. I don't even play trumpet...yet.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @05:36AM
It is absolutely a social experiment, but it is also a deep space operations pathfinder experiment. The last time someone tried this it wasn't just 'fake science experiments' to keep the crew busy either. It was a fully isolated habitat with working life support systems and other critical gear that required maintenance and they even simulated communications lag to make it more realistic. They had to abandon the project because concrete consumes oxygen as it cures and their life support gear couldn't keep up.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @05:43AM
Anyone going on a NASA mission to Mars will require a STEM degree so that requirement is exactly on point. The social experiment is a big part of what they are doing but they also need to know how to design and run a base that has limited contact with Earth. If anything the problems the ISS had in the early days, and Skylab and Mir before it, highlight just how difficult it is to get this right and Mars will be a lot less forgiving since there is around a two year wait before you can come home if something goes wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @07:56AM (1 child)
I know someone addicted to these sort of things. Allegedly an engineer of some sort, but the last time they put them in charge of the greenhouse. Seems that Mars attracts all sorts. Only some of whom are serial killers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @11:44AM
Is he the guy who had three robot drones, Huey, Dewey, and Louie? What's he up to? The last I heard, he was running silent.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Tuesday August 10 2021, @05:12AM (1 child)
Much better? I seem to remember Steve Squyres saying that if he were there in person, he could have done as much work in 45 seconds as the rover did in one sol.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @05:22AM
I guess he could scoop the dirt into the mass spectrometer better than any damn robot (for 45 seconds). Score for the humans.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by amamandaa on Tuesday August 10 2021, @04:11AM (2 children)
Maybe we can send the creepy uncle, and move away while he's gone. Hey, it worked when he was a little kid, but the police brought him back that time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 10 2021, @04:33AM
Maybe we can send 12 murderers and pedophles on death row... hey, wasn't there a documentary about this? What happened to those guys?
(Score: 3, Funny) by bmimatt on Tuesday August 10 2021, @08:05PM
Ignore the uncle. Send Bezos and Eric Trump instead.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Tuesday August 10 2021, @08:22AM
Let's put cameras all over the place and keep them busy with ridiculous summer camp style games. We could even make a buck or two by selling this to some TV network for broadcast.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday August 10 2021, @02:14PM
Get an ant colony working on Mars would be more useful than getting a human colony working on earth?