
NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Competition - soulmerge
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/3DPHab/five-teams-win-a-share-of-100000-in-virtual-modeling-stage
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soulmerge
These are the videos of the winning entries:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnrVV0w2jrE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnrVV0w2jrE)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BN_xJZMOk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BN_xJZMOk)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxoqs18BOoE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxoqs18BOoE)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxzoO9ADqOE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxzoO9ADqOE)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZEUYKePV_0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZEUYKePV_0)

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mr_overalls
1\. Team Zopherus:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZEUYKePV_0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZEUYKePV_0)

2\. AI SpaceFactory:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnrVV0w2jrE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnrVV0w2jrE)

3\. Kahn Yates:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BN_xJZMOk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BN_xJZMOk)

4\. SEArch+/Apis Cor:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxoqs18BOoE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxoqs18BOoE)

5\. Northwestern University:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxzoO9ADqOE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxzoO9ADqOE)

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ibdf
Everyone but AI SpaceFactory went with a dome like structure. I liked AI's
explanation about why not build a dome. Pretty interesting ideas overall.

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iliasku
probably unrelated but anyone here knows any resources for 3d printed houses
here on earth? specifically in europe. i know of
[https://www.iconbuild.com/home](https://www.iconbuild.com/home) for US market

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ragebol
[https://cybe.eu/](https://cybe.eu/)

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iliasku
thanks!

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jcriddle4
Material strength is really important. Atmospheric pressure is about 14 pounds
per inch at sea level. You can probably drop that to 10 pounds per inch or
maybe less. For a square foot of wall, at 10, you would be at 12 * 12 * 10 or
1440 pounds of pressure. So for the cylinder style of design a one foot high
band say 30 feet in diameter would have over 40,000 pounds pushing on it. That
design uses basalt fiber, which has been around for quite some time and is
quite strong.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt_fiber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt_fiber)

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elihu
I think that's a good argument for building below grade. For instance, you dig
a big hole, build a dome-like shell, bury it in dirt leaving a reinforced
tunnel to the surface for a stairwell, then inflate a balloon inside the shell
to provide an airtight living area. The weight of the ground counteracts the
air pressure and it acts as a radiation shield.

(Alternatively, one could build the dome from the top down, excavating as you
go.)

If dirt is about 80 pounds per square foot (I'll assume for the sake of
argument that that's in the ballpark of the typical density of Martian sand),
that's about 32 pounds in Mars gravity, or about 0.22 pounds per square inch
per foot of depth. So, it would take about 45 feet of depth for the weight of
the ground to match 10 psi of air pressure. Maybe that's a little too deep to
be practical for a pure compressive structure, but maybe ten or twenty feet of
depth can offset a significant amount of the tension even if the interior
pressure is more than the weight of the ground on top.

I suppose you could also mound a pile of dirt on top over time.

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ClassAndBurn
This is amazing! Really innovative designs and ideas. As 3D printing is a new
technology, even on Earth, I wonder if there are traditional designs using
bricks or other materials created from the native soils and rocks that would
potentially have more understood construction properties and lifespans.

The additional bet of building something on an entirely new planet an entirely
new way seem risky. (but awesome, if someone from NASA is reading this; don't
stop)

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JKCalhoun
I assume initial habitats will be inflatable since those are easiest to
transport.

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caio1982
AI. SpaceFactory's Marsha seems simple yet elegant, not too much of an exotic
architectural design but also (IMHO) based on possible 3D printing
engineering. I like the idea of having the printing machinery separate from
the building and the logic behind going with that shape. Loved it.

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ryanmercer
Now to figure out the easiest way to make the materials in situ.

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tpurves
This is why Elon is so into tunnel boring machines. mars habitats will be
underground, or cut into the side of bluff’s canyons. Think dwarf fortress on
Mars. this is the simple in-situ solution to both radiation shielding and
pressurization. Might not be that much fun though to live underground all the
time.

