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."
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 the agency.
1 Comment
nice project. is 3d printing really have potential to be more efficient than masonry though?
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