2024-05-04T03:15:08-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150156530/ai-spacefactory-wants-you-to-experience-mars-on-earth Sean Joyner 2019-09-03T21:00:00-04:00 >2024-03-15T01:45:58-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/f2/f2fe02cbd0ba710fd771a82541607f84.png?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>You might remember AI SpaceFactory as the New York-based multidisciplinary design agency that <a href="https://archinect.com/news/bustler/7275/ai-spacefactory-wins-first-place-in-final-round-of-nasa-3d-printed-habitat-challenge" target="_blank">took home first place</a> in NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. The team was awarded a $500,000 grand prize for their proposal entitled&nbsp;<em><a href="https://www.aispacefactory.com/marsha" target="_blank">MARSHA</a></em>.</p> <p>Expanding on lessons learned from MARSHA, the agency has now designed and developed a successor called <em>TERA</em>, "built from a 3D-printed biopolymer basalt composite&mdash;a material developed from crops like corn and sugar cane&mdash;tested and validated by NASA to be [at least] 50% stronger and more durable than concrete."</p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a3/a31a3619ba42f37b7fe51f39fb992f41.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=1028" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a3/a31a3619ba42f37b7fe51f39fb992f41.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>TERA. Image courtesy of AI SpaceFactory</figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.aispacefactory.com/tera" target="_blank">AI SpaceFactory promotes</a> this method as a more sustainable approach than traditional concrete and steel, something they believe will be essential to building operations in a future on Mars as well as Earth.<br></p> <p>"Nestled in the woods of upstate New York along the Hudson River, TERA is available on a nightly basis for anyone wanting to experience what sustainable life could be like on Mars&ndash;and on Earth," writes th...</p>