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  • When you think of future Martian habitats, what do they look like?

  • Maybe a squat, half buried, windowless dome or a glorified fallout shelter?

  • But how about this?

  • This is Marsha, designed by AI Space Factory.

  • It has Windows, multiple floors, private rooms and even a skylight.

  • But best of all, NASA loves it.

  • Cool, Thanks, not rocket.

  • Scientists and engineers at NASA are pros when it comes to landing robots on Mars, and they're figuring out how to get humans there next.

  • But when it comes to living on Mars, well, they decided to ask the public for help.

  • In the 2000 tens, NASA launched its three D printed Habitat Challenge.

  • Over the years, it's held multiple stages of the challenge that started with virtual designs and has since progressed to full fledged three D printed models.

  • Challengers compete not only for bragging rights but for you know, money, and in 2019, 1st prize was half a million dollars.

  • Challengers were judged on multiple criteria, including the material they used, the structures, durability and how airtight it waas.

  • After four days of building testing and judging, NASA announced the winner.

  • First place goes Thio, a space factories.

  • So let's take a closer look at Marcia.

  • For starters, the construction material is made out of a bas Ault composite, something no other competitors used and, the team says could be easily made on Mars.

  • That's because Mars has Basat speckled all across its surface, thanks to volcanoes that erupted there hundreds of millions to billions of years ago.

  • And once you have a good source of assault, it's mixed with Cem plant based polymers, which when you're on Mars, you'd have to grow.

  • After that, all you need is a robot to three d Print the house.

  • Other stuff like windows that can't be printed on site and time.

  • This prototype is only a third of the size that the team envisions from Mars.

  • You had a person they'd be about, that's all, and it alone took 30 hours to complete.

  • From start to finish, the team had to step in and help the machine a few times.

  • But in the future they plan to make the entire process fully autonomous because in the real world there won't be many people on Mars to help.

  • Plus, the team says, this Passat composite is an effective shield against the high energy radiation at Mars surface, and that is very important because a person living on Mars unprotected would receive about 5000 times more radiation in their lifetime than if they had lived on Earth.

  • That's more than enough to cause cancer and would almost surely result in premature death from radiation poisoning.

  • Now, some experts argue that any free standing building on Mars is a bad idea specifically because of the high radiation problem, which is why some concepts proposed for Martian habitats are underground and look a lot like nuclear fallout shelters here on Earth.

  • But Marsha's designer says that homes above ground are essential to the long term success of life on Mars because of the hostile environment, people associate bunkers with good ideas.

  • But I think one thing Marcia does is ask the question.

  • Isn't psychological health also mission critical?

  • And he isn't the only one worried about psychological health.

  • For years, NASA has been testing how humans withstand long periods of isolation.

  • For example, it requires astronauts in space to complete regular psychological tests that monitor their mood.

  • They also conduct experiments on the ground, like the high seas study short for Hawaii space exploration, analog and simulation, where a small crew lives in Mars like homes for usually eight months at a time, and face many of the same physical and psychological challenges of living on Mars.

  • But compared to the high seas living quarters, Marcia looks different.

  • For one, it has multiple floors, each with a distinct purpose.

  • The first contains a wet lab and space for E V.

  • A prep, one floor up the kitchen and dry lab on the third floor.

  • Ah, hydroponic garden, bathroom and sleeping quarters.

  • And above that, a gym and recreation center.

  • Not to mention there's multiple windows throughout the home windows Air Key have relationship to the environment.

  • The landscape changes on a daily basis, and it really would help to mitigate monotony, which is known as a major psychological threat.

  • Wow, you're probably saying that place is really nice.

  • I'd stay there even if it were on Earth.

  • Well, buddy, you're in luck.

  • AI Space Factory is taking their concept and building it here.

  • What we've developed so far, printing at scale and basically taking that application directly to, you know, a now our north of New York, where people could go and experience this new type of habitat.

  • It's called Terra.

  • Not only does it look like Marcia, it will be made out of Marcia.

  • After the NASA competition, AI space factory broke their model down and will re use it to build Terra.

  • It hopes to finish by fall 2019 and soon after you might be able to book your stay.

  • But Terra is more than just a futuristic cabin.

  • In order to get to the next step of building on the moon or Mars, we need more practice s.

  • Oh, this is an opportunity for us to refine our technology.

  • Do more prints, increase our level of autonomy, solve some of the problems that way found in our NASA print.

  • Andi, push it to the next step.

When you think of future Martian habitats, what do they look like?

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