Mars Ice House is NASA’s Centennial Challenge Mars Habitat Competition winner and is planned to be 3D printed in the next stage. The Mars Ice House project taps into this vast supply of water ice to propose an autonomously 3d printed habitat for four explorers. According to research, there are more than five million cubic kilometers of water ice on Mars, enough to blanket the planet to a depth of 35 meters. Ice is chosen as the primary material for this project due to the natural climatic and atmospheric circumstances (below freezing with low humidity) it allows to take advantage of the mechanics of phase transition, processing, and printing with water uses less energy. Also, Ice could be used as an effective radiation shield.
The Wasibo and iBo robotic mechanisms were presented as 3D printing mechanisms for the ice shell. The WaSibo controls the habitat’s exterior while the iBo controls the habitat’s interior, preventing regolith contamination. WaSibo is lowered into the Martian environment through the lander’s base chamber. WaSiBo has two settings when it’s outside: Foundation-Sinter Mode and Water-Mining Mode. The iBo is designed to deposit layers of ice using a low-volume, close-range nozzle that assures that any water that freezes in mid-flight melts and refreezes instantly due to the energy of impact.
Inflated domes covered in regolith have operated as a precedent, resulting in dark, claustrophobic shelters with potentially fatal repercussions for crew motivation and mental health. By inventing a translucent fin-shaped double-shell structure encased within a transparent ETFE film, Mars Ice House redefines this typology. The design is based on a humanist philosophy, with crew comfort and well-being as primary design considerations.
Between the inner habitat and the outside shell is an unprogrammed space known as the ‘yard.’ This is not a designated sleeping, eating, or working area, but rather an undefined open place for contemplation, relaxation, exercise, gameplay, or anything else the crew wishes to do. This room is pressurized and can be occupied with a simple oxygen mask, even though it is not entirely conditioned. It also acts as a buffer zone, absorbing leaks from the habitat’s environmental control and life support systems so that the Martian wilderness is not contaminated in the future.
Project Team
Christina Ciardullo
Jeffrey Montes
Kelsey Lents
Michael Morris
Ostap Rudakevych
Masayuki Sono
Yuko Sono
Melodie Yashar
Competition:
Winner – NASA 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, 2015
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