Showing posts with label 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Show all posts

Sunday, October 4, 2020

SpaceX Starship at NASA Artemis Base Camp by ICON

NASA has announced it is working with Texas-based 3D printed construction startup ICON "on early research and development of a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The company has 3D printed communities of homes and structures on Earth and participated in NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, demonstrating a construction method and technologies that may be adaptable for applications beyond our home planet." Both NASA and US Air Force have invested in company's technologies via Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract.

NASA is working, via its Artemis program, to establish a long-term human presence on and around the Moon by the end of the 2020s. Construction and expansion of Artemis Base Camp will require extensive use of lunar resources, including water ice (for life support and rocket fuel) and moon dirt (for building materials).

To accomplish goals of the SBIR contract ICON has teamed up with space design studio SEArch+ and Danish architecture firm BIG in Project Olympus to develop robotic construction concept for NASA's Artemis Base Camp. Here are several conceptual illustrations from the project.
First one depicts a spaceport featuring several 3D printed landing pads and roads, SpaceX's Starship in one of the pads and Blue Origin's Lunar lander with ICON's 3D printer landing in another:
SpaceX's Starship at NASA's Artemis Base Camp spaceport by ICON & SEArch+
Closeup of illustration's central part:
SpaceX's Starship at NASA's Artemis Base Camp spaceport by ICON & SEArch+ - closeup
Here are illustrations of 3D printed habitats:
Project Olympus concept by ICON & BIG for NASA's Artemis Base Camp - top view

Sunday, June 30, 2019

3D-printed Mars habitat MARSHA by AI SpaceFactory

Architectural and technology design agency AI SpaceFactory is the team that won NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for Mars. Their design "MARSHA" of an egg-shaped, dual shell habitat is a principal rethinking of what a Martian habitat could be - not another low-lying dome or confined, half-buried structure but a bright, multi-level, corridor-free home that stands upright on the surface of Mars.

Here are some impressive conceptual design images for the project:

3D-printed Mars base MARSHA in duststorm by AI SpaceFactory (NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge)

3D-printed Mars base MARSHA by AI SpaceFactory (NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge)

3D-printed Mars base MARSHA by AI SpaceFactory (NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge)

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

3D-printed Mars base by Hassell & EOC

Design studio Hassell and structural engineers Eckersley O’Callaghan (EOC) is one of the 10 finalist teams in phase 3 (virtual model stage) of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge for Mars. Both companies partnered to design a shell, which could be constructed entirely by autonomous robots using Mars’ natural regolith, to protect the astronauts from the radiation, as well as micrometeorite strikes. The human-centric design was made with an approach that moves beyond the idea of astronauts as purely operators, to create a habitat where people can not only survive life on Mars, but really thrive there. The concept is well explained in this video, which forms part of the final submission and was made in collaboration with the "LightField London":



Conceptual design images for the project:

3D-printed Mars base by Hassell & EOC (NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge)

Mars habitat interior by Hassell & EOC (NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge)

Friday, October 26, 2018

Mars base by XArc & James Vaughan

Picture of the Day 26/10/2018 - Mars base with 3D-printed modules by XArc (Exploration Architecture corporation) and James Vaughan - one of the 10 finalist teams in phase 3 (virtual model stage) of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge.
(Open link in new tab to view ⇩ in full resolution)
Mars base by XArc & James Vaughan (NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge)

Monday, July 9, 2018

3D-printed home on Mars by SEArch+/Apis Cor

Picture of the Day 9/7/2018 - a 3D-printed home on Mars by SEArch+/Apis Cor team - one of the 10 finalists in phase 3 (virtual model stage) of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge.

Home on Mars by SEArch+ Apis Cor (NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge)