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BIG, NASA, ICON Reveal 3D Printed Research Habitats For Mars
Bjarke Ingels Group collaborated with NASA and ICON to create Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D printed research habitat that will provide long-term home for astronauts on mission to Mars. The 1700 sq.ft. The structure, which is currently located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, is designed by the award-winning architectural firm, 3D printed by construction developers ICON, and will soon house NASA’s future crew.
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The project is a revolutionary step towards the realization of habitation and civilization on Mars. The structure is designed with a “gradient of privacy”, with four private crew quarters on one side and dedicated workstations, medical stations and food production stations on the other, with living space. shared between the two. Ceiling heights are divided vertically by an arched shell structure to frame each unit. To avoid having a monotonous environment, modular and mobile furniture is installed, as well as customizable lighting, sound and temperature, giving astronauts complete freedom to organize their space as they wish.
This is the highest fidelity simulated habitat ever built by humans. Mars Dune Alpha is intended to serve a very specific purpose: to prepare humans for living on another planet. We wanted to develop the most faithful analog possible to help humanity’s dream expand into the stars. Habitat 3D printing further illustrated to us that construction scale 3D printing is an essential part of humanity’s toolkit on Earth and to go to the Moon and Mars for stay there. – Jason Ballard, Co-Founder and CEO, ICON
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The red planet: conception on our race to Mars
Mars Dune Alpha is part of NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) program, which provides valuable information for NASA’s space food system, as well as physical and behavioral health and performance analysis for future space missions. The data obtained from CHAPEA will be used by the space agency to assess the living conditions and health of crews throughout their mission.
In collaboration with NASA and ICON, we are investigating what humanity’s home on another planet will involve from the human experience. The data obtained from this habitat research will directly inform NASA’s standards for long-duration exploration missions and, as such, potentially lay the groundwork for a new Martian vernacular. Mars Dune Alpha will take us one step further to become a multiplanetary species. –Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group.
NASA has already started recruiting for the long-range analog study of the 3D-printed Mars inside habitat mission, which will begin in fall 2022. In addition to the Mars Dune Alpha, ICON also received funding from NASA to initiate the “Olympus Project,” research and development of a space construction system to support future explorations and missions to the Moon.
Mars is at the center of this discourse, the most habitable planet in our solar system after Earth. The proposals for the Red Planet explore how we can create new kingdoms of humanity in space. In 2017, a team of engineers, scientists and designers from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, in collaboration with the architectural firm BIG, developed a project simulating Martian conditions right here on Earth, facilitating research and testing. different construction strategies to better resist Mars. heat and radiation. The project, aptly named Mars Science City, was built using 3D printing techniques and sand from the Emirati desert.
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