NASA 3D printing has a new game-changing use! In the past couple of years, it has not been possible to have missed word of NASA’s mission to bring humans to Mars for resettlement. There has to be a six-degrees-of-separation thing–or fewer degrees–where people are connected to someone who quietly applied for Mars One! With the Mars One challenge still a real goal of NASA’s, a NASA 3D printing challenge has come into play.
The space agency created a competition called the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge. Its goal? To create a place for Mars One explorers to live and stay once reaching their new planetary homes. The competition will attract the savvier in 3D printing design, planning to award $50,000 to winners on architectural merit, as well as $1.1 million to the two competitors who manage to build something of real materials able to shelter against true conditions in Mars. How is that for a new way to become a millionaire?
Why Mars One Needs 3D Printing
This is invaluable to the Mars One initiative because 3D printing could be a solution that makes its possible to resettle in Mars having to bring crazy amounts of construction supplies from Earth all the way to Mars. Imaginably, the costs for that would really be unearthly and even implausible. Another reason a well-design 3D printed habitat would be a godsend is that if some home repairs were needed, it would be possible to do it without having to await resupply materials from such a long way away.
The biggest question of late in the Mars One initiative has not been how to get humans to Earth for resettlement–but then what? How do they survive once there? Volunteer citizens probably even would like to know where they would be living and in what. While the Mars One mission won’t be until around 2035, it is never too early to plan for a mission as essential as this one.
3D printing is becoming a tour de force, a technology that can improve life on Earth and the extraterrestrial world. Sam Ortega’s the systems engineer for NASA speaks of 3D printing. “The future possibilities for 3D printing are inspiring, and the technology is extremely important to deep space exploration. This challenge definitely raises the bar from what we are currently capable of, and we are excited to see what the maker community does with it.”
Joining The 3D Printed Habitat Challenge: Mark Those Calendars
Lately, NASA has been opening up a lot of challenges to the general public, particularly the young. Interested competitors and 3D printmakers can register beginning September 26.
