For the more futurists, the idea of living on the red planet does not seem to have impediments beyond how far it is or that the atmosphere is not breathable. Living on Mars may be a reality in the not too distant future and all kinds of projects have already been published, some funded by NASA, to make it habitable.
The internationally renowned astrophysicist Guillem Anglada-Escudé leads a project for the construction and maintenance of a city (Nüwa) on Mars and has an international team of scientists and academics working to make Nüwa a feasible, habitable and self-sufficient city in a few decades . Guillem affirms that “We still cannot date the first expedition to Mars. We will put it on him in about three or four years, when we see how the large tonnage rockets being built in the United States (Elon Musk’s SpaceX; Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin…) and also in China work ”.
Objective: Live on Mars
The Perseverance rover is carrying out a fundamental mission to see if humans can live on Mars. Inside it contains a gold-coated box that collects carbon dioxide from the red planet’s atmosphere to convert it into oxygen. This technology called MOXIE ( Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment ) would avoid the high cost of bringing oxygen from Earth to Mars.
Another function it performs is to generate oxygen so that spacecraft can take off from the surface of Mars to return to Earth. On April 20, MOXIE managed to create oxygen for the first time in the Jezero crater on Mars, becoming the first device to generate resources that can be used by humans on another planet. A historical milestone that takes another step in the race to colonize Mars.
Futuristic projects to inhabit Mars
Before starting to design a prototype of a habitat on Mars, researchers and scientists have had to gather information on the construction materials available on the red planet, since bringing materials such as concrete or steel from Earth is not feasible.
These are some of the latest house designs that are being made to inhabit Mars:
“The Crater House”
Amey Kandalgaonkar is known for his shocking utopian projects. The Indian architect and photographer, following Elon Musk’s statements last May in which he claimed that it was pointless to have possessions on Earth and that his next goal would be to inhabit Mars, Amey set out to work on the design of a UFO-shaped dwelling sheltered by a Martian crater. For this Indian architect, the imagination has no limits and is capable of placing buildings in natural formations that you would never have imagined.
Zopherus
Zopherus’ home is inspired by terrestrial biologies such as honeycombs and spider webs. Zopherus is able to land in the right place and deploy autonomous robots that collect useful materials from the environment to use and create a structure through 3D printing. Included in this Martian house design are storage cubicles and facilities that prevent air leaks.
Marsha
The Marsha Project by AI SpaceFactory is NASA’s proposal for a 3D printed house optimized for construction on Mars. The company has researched and developed a basalt fiber composite (which can be extracted from rocks on Mars) and a renewable bioplastic that can be obtained from plants that can be grown on the red planet.
SEArch and Clouds AO
One of the most appropriate building materials for intergalactic dwellings is ice, and on this material they based the design of this “ice house” SEArch and Clouds AO. Surface ice is abundant on Mars and this dwelling with a vertical ice sheet would be able to protect its inhabitants from radiation.
Mars Incubator
Model that presents a design of four spherical modules connected by a larger one located in the center. Each of the modules is connected by bridges that allow the crew to move between the different modules without leaving the structure. Radiation resistant, its supports are made of regolith plastic and basalt fiber polyethylene.
Kahn yatees
One of the most relevant designs of houses on Mars comes from the team of Kahn Yatees from Mississippi who came up with this curious structure of a possible room on Mars. The design has been specifically created to withstand dust storms and adverse weather that can occur on Mars. An ethereal structure designed to build itself once it lands safely on the Martian surface.
Sfero by Fabulous
The French 3D printing company Fabulous designed a bubble house that once landed on Mars would begin to be built from iron oxide found on the planet’s surface. A futuristic structure with a helical staircase that would connect 2 floors.
Xiaomi Mars Case
The OPEN Architecture studio, in collaboration with Xiaomi, also presented its housing prototype, the Mars Case. It is a fairly minimalist design, but that does not mean that it renounces the highest technology in its interior. Everything is designed to consume the least amount of resources possible and recycling is one of its maximums, since they believe that there would be the means of survival.
Mars Ice Home by Clouds AO
The design for Clouds AO, Mars Ice Home has been developed by a team of experts and NASA’s Langley Research Center. It is a deployable habitat concept. It is based on an inflatable structure that incorporates ice, from water obtained from the red planet itself, as a shield against radiation and as a structural component.
XArc (Exploration Architecture corporation) and James Vaughan
This design was one of the 10 finalists in Phase 3 (Virtual Modeling) of NASA’s 3D Printed Habitats Contest. Although it looks like a rounded dome, it is based on a hexagonal design and, inside, it has all the necessary equipment, such as rooms, kitchen and work area, divided into several floors.
ArcHab
The XArc team has also designed ArcHab, with a more robust and efficient design. This arc-shaped design provides solid protection against radiation, while offering additional shelter for any inhabitant of the red planet.
Bryan Versteeg
This conceptual artist, who has worked as an industrial designer for more than 20 years, has also imagined and designed his own Martian base. Since 2011, with his project Spacehabs , he has made conceptual designs on possible habitats to explore space. Its design will not leave anyone indifferent.
