NASA has announced the three winners of the latest level of Phase 3 of the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Participating teams were challenged to create a virtual design of their home for Mars. First prize goes to Team SEArch+/Apis Cor.
The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is a competition launched by NASA in 2015. The contest challenges participants to design a 3D-printable habitat for exploring deep space. In addition, the homes must be usable during NASA's mission to Mars, which NASA has planned for after 2030.
Centennial Challenges
The competition is part of NASA's Centennial Challenges, through which the organisation in 2005 challenged the public to get involved in the development of space technology. Through the programme, incentives are offered to develop revolutionary solutions that can benefit NASA and the United States as a whole. NASA's Centennial Challenges aims to encourage innovations in science, technological developments and building prototypes that can improve NASA's performance.
The 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge was created within NASA's Centennial Challenges. This competition aims to develop additive manufacturing techniques, materials and designs needed to build accommodations during deep space missions, including NASA's mission to Mars. The competition is divided into three stages, each consisting of several levels. Through this method, NASA aims to give more teams the opportunity to participate in the competition.
Stages
The 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge consists of the following stages:
Phase 1 - this phase focused on design teams and challenged teams to submit architectural renderings. This phase was completed in 2015 and won by Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office of New York for their design of the 'Mars Ice House'.
Phase 2 - this phase focused on materials development and challenged participant teams to 3D-print structural components of their accommodation. This phase was completed in 2017 and won by Team Foster + Partners | Branch Technology.
Stage 3 - this is the most recent stage of the competition, which is currently underway. In this phase, the focus is on 3D printing the design that teams have created. Teams in this phase are challenged to design elements of their accommodation in Building Information Modelling software and 3D print these elements.
Five levels
Phase 3, like other phases, is divided into multiple levels. The third stage has five levels, three of which focus on physically constructing an accommodation and two on creating a virtual representation. The most recent level is the second virtual level, which is the last level of this phase.
This phase is divided into five levels, with three focusing on physically constructing an accommodation and two on creating a virtual representation. The winners of the last of these two virtual levels have now been announced by NASA. The level was won by Team SEArch+/Apis Cor.
Second place goes to team Zopherus.
Team Mars Incubator takes third place.
More information on the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge can be found here.
