An artist's rendering of the Mars Ice Home concept.
Credits: NASA/Clouds AO/SEArch
When astronauts set foot on Mars, they may stay for months rather than days as they did during Apollo missions to the moon. The surface of Mars has extreme temperatures and the atmosphere does not provide adequate protection from high-energy radiation. These explorers will need shelters to effectively protect them from the harsh Martian environment and provide a safe place to call home.
For researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the best building material for a new home on Mars may lie in an unexpected material: ice.
Starting with a proposed concept called “Mars Ice Dome,” a group of NASA experts and passionate designers and architects from industry and academia came together at Langley’s Engineering Design Studio. The project was competitively selected through the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s (STMD) Center Innovation Fund to encourage creativity and innovation within the NASA Centers in addressing technology needs. This is just one of many potential concepts for sustainable habitation on the Red Planet in support of the agency’s journey to Mars.
Eric Gillard
NASA Langley Research Center
Here's a view of the layout inside the dome:
The article has an extended discussion on how this Martian igloo works to provide safe and secure quarters while protecting against radiation, dust storms, etc. There's obviously been tremendous depth in the analysis.
Martian rovers have been wandering about Mars for years now but we have not heard a report of a marsquake. It seems like such a thing would be the biggest risk since that's instant death if there's a sudden rupture of the dome.
Look closely and you'll notice some 'legs' beneath the components and conceivably these function, to some extent, as shock absorbers. There doesn't seem to be any shock absorber mechanism so possibly they're just levelers.
Since the objective is to stay in the dome for months at a time, it seems prudent for NASA to start with two of them such that one may provide the emergency failover for some catastrophic problem with the other. That implies the domes should never be occupied to more than half their capacity so one can absorb the Martians from the other and all of them survive there until the next Mars mission arrives.
Something we don't see in the graphics is the 3D printer which makes all the components. This kit not only has to build itself, it has to assemble the parts itself too. The objective is to have the new Martian domicile ready when the neo Martians arrive so there's a great deal more about the construction which may be fascinating to know.
When the projected Martian tour of duty is, say, two months and the ice dome represents the accommodations, I suspect there will be people lining up around the block to apply to become future Martians.
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