Archinect - News

AI SpaceFactory wants you to experience Mars on Earth

2019-09-03T21:00:00-04:00

You might remember AI SpaceFactory as the New York-based multidisciplinary design agency that took home first place in NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. The team was awarded a $500,000 grand prize for their proposal entitled MARSHA.

Expanding on lessons learned from MARSHA, the agency has now designed and developed a successor called TERA, "built from a 3D-printed biopolymer basalt composite—a material developed from crops like corn and sugar cane—tested and validated by NASA to be [at least] 50% stronger and more durable than concrete."

TERA. Image courtesy of AI SpaceFactory

AI SpaceFactory promotes 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.

"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–and on Earth," writes th...

Foster + Partners' extra-terrestrial habitats will be displayed at Goodwood Festival 2018

2018-07-06T15:31:00-04:00

Continuing with designing for space, Foster + Partners will showcase their vision of life on Mars and the Moon as part of the Future Lab showcase at the 2018 Goodwood Festival. The firm will show a range of models, robotics, and futuristic designs to explore the future of life in space.

Habitation pod design by Foster + Partners. Image: Fost + Partners.

Foster + Partners takes a central position at this year’s FoS Future Lab, which is focused on space exploration, autonomous transport, robotics, and personal flight.

Habitation pod design by Foster + Partners. Image: Fost + Partners.

The firm will be showing their latest award-winning projects carried out for competitions organized by NASA in the event’s second edition of the Future Lab innovation exhibition.

Habitation pod design by Foster + Partners. Image: Fost + Partners.

At the center of the firm's display will be a scale model based on the Mars and lunar habitation pods they designed. Visitors will be able to "walk through" a vir...

NASA discovers liquid water on Mars

2015-09-28T14:57:00-04:00

“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future.”

In an announcement made this morning, NASA stated that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected "the strongest evidence yet" of liquid water on the fourth planet from the Sun.

The new evidence emerged from data collected by an imaging spectrometer mounted on the spacecraft, which was launched in 2005 and has been orbiting Mars since 2006. According to the announcement, "researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet." The signatures appear to corroborate existing hypotheses.

Known as recurring slop lineae (RSL), the streaks seem to ebb and flow, apparently in accord with seasonal fluctuations. Previously suggested as an indicator of the presence of water, the discovery of hydrated salts further validates this idea.

The salts – likely a mixture of magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate, and sodium perchlorate – would help lower the freezing point of what is likely a subsurface flow that occasionally breach...