MakerBot and NASA Launch a Competition for The Best ‘Human Base on Mars’ Design

MakerBot has reportedly launched a competition, in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, challenging people to become inspirational in designing a human base o Mars. Things like extreme temperatures, radiation spikes, dust storms are just a few examples competitors should take into account.

Although not every entrant will have a strong astrophysical background, NASA is in search for individuals who like to ‘think outside the box’ and give NASA some fresh insights and other points of view they might be missing. MakerBot has also placed a Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer up for grabs for whoever wins the competition, which has started on the 30th of May and will close on the 12th of June. Though not a lot of time has been made available, it has been reported that the competition already received 70 CAD file submissions.

One of the submissions comes from a graduate engineer by the name of Pierre Meyitang, who has submitted a so-called ‘DasDome’ , which is a huge dome housing surrounded by solar panel arrays that can fold in on top of the dome in order to protect it from external factors.

Ryan from Florida is another entrant who has submitted his ‘Mars City Base’ design, having it engineered to be elevated off the ground in order to grant wind deflection, having a pond in the center to store fresh water and houses located above agricultural plots.

3D printing concepts for space living have been around since astrophysicists looked at using the concept of 3D printing Earth homes and do the same thing for the Moon, having NASA due to launch the first 3D printer into space this year in order to experiment with printing in the most challenging conditions.

Thank you Arstechnica for providing us with this information
Image courtesy of Arstechnica