Someday, many people hope, humans will travel to Mars. The U.S. National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) has plans for a mission to the planet in the 2030s, and entrepreneur Elon Musk says his SpaceX company can do it by 2024. If people succeed in setting up an outpost on Mars, they’ll need to build someplace for astronauts to live, sleep, and work. But hauling building materials across 225 million km of space—the average distance between Earth and Mars—would be a nightmare. It costs about $4,000 to launch a kilogram of material to low Earth orbit and many times that amount to send it to Mars, so trying to ship tons of concrete would be financially ruinous and logistically very difficult, says Robert P. Mueller, senior technologist for advanced products development at the Swamp Works, an innovation laboratory he cofounded at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Any new inhabitants of the

    Scientists explore ways to use martian soil to build habitats on the red planet

    10.1021/cen-09601-scitech-domecxd-gr1

    A team from Pennsylvania State University printed a dome as part of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. (Credit: Joel Kowsky/NASA)

    Materials3-D PrintingMarsbuilding materialsPhotograph of a robotic arm printing a dome, about one meter across, made out of a mud-like material.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Home, sweet martian home


    Additional title:

    C&EN


    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2018-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    Unknown