The winner of the competition organized by NASA has been announced. Its participants had to develop a project for a house in which members of the expedition that reached Mars could live and work.
The Martian settlement involved 165 participants. NASA selected a project created by a team of architects and technologists from the Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office. The Martian Ice House - this is what the developers called the dwelling they had invented.
He will indeed have an ice shell. Like an Eskimo igloo. Under the ice shell is a flexible membrane, inside of which the living and office premises are enclosed.
The debut idea of the winners of the competition is as follows: the ship delivers the necessary equipment and a living module to Mars. The members of the expedition first live in the module and gradually build a flexible shell around it. Then they cover it with ice, which will become the main protection against radiation and cold.
The clear ice will allow the sun's rays to pass through, making the igloo light in the daytime. And at night - romantic thanks to the view of the satellites of Mars and the stars.
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By the way, it is assumed that the shell for the greenhouse will also be ice-cold.
Water for construction will need to be obtained locally. And this is now a very real prospect - there is water on Mars, which was recently pompously announced. And it is possible that the discovery of Martian water and inclined NASA to the chosen option.
The second place was taken by the project of the Gamma team of the architectural bureau Foster and Partners (Team Gamma, architects Foster and Partners). They also proposed to build something like an igloo, but from local soil. It is assumed that the builders will melt it with the brought heaters and pour it like concrete.