Space travel ignites imagination, but the idea of actually living on another planet
has always felt pretty farfetched - until now
Faced with unprecedented challenges here on Earth, NASA are exploring ways to actually build on Mars.
But how would we get to this planet, let alone build there? This incredible proposal holds
many of the answers, along with some lessons for building right here on our own planet.
Mars is our closest habitable planet and taking a manned mission there is seen by experts
as our next achievable goal in space exploration.
A human presence on Mars would enable us to learn more about the universe, gain a better
understanding of our own planet and search for extraterrestrial life.
In recent years, encouraging progress has been made towards this goal - both by NASA,
and by other organisations such as SpaceX and the European Space Agency.
But reaching the Red Planet, and building the environments that are essential for any
manned voyage there is an extreme undertaking.
To help, NASA invited teams of innovators to submit ideas, stipulating that designs
must include 3D printing technology that would use the harsh Martian terrain - or regolith
- as a building material for the base.
One of the leading ideas is this unique human-centric habitation concept that was submitted by international
design practice Hassell, in partnership with engineering firm Eckersley O’Callaghan.
Here, our future settlers would thrive, rather than simply survive.
To learn more about the plans and how they would actually work in practice, I met Xavier
De Kestelier, head of design technology and innovation at Hassell, who masterminded the concept.
“We’re here at the Design Museum in London, at the Mars exhibition. What is this?
How did it come about?”
“Well this exhibition is called ‘Moving to Mars’ and it’s all about how humans
will move to Mars but from a design perspective.”
“We’ve been working with lots of scientists and engineers to make sure that our design
is not just science fiction - it’s actually pretty realistic.”
“We only use technology that is existing today or will become very mature in probably
the next five or ten years.”
Building a settlement like this, in a place where no human has ever been before,
is a serious challenge.
As each kilogram of equipment is expected to be hugely expensive to transport
to Mars, NASA’s preferred strategy is for structures to be 3D printed using material
from the local environment.
Xavier: “Earth has this beautiful magnetic sphere that protects us from solar and cosmic radiation.
"Mars is magnetically dead, which means all the radiation hits the planet and
will hit our astronauts.
“The way you protect yourself from radiation is by using a lot of mass. So the ideal thing
would be going into a cave. So what we’re doing is creating our own cave.”
Working from London and San Francisco, Hassell developed an external shell which could be
made entirely from Martian soil by autonomous robots equipped with advanced
cameras and sensors.
Xavier: “We’ve actually been looking at designing specific types of robot to do this task.
If we get a robot over to Mars, what might happen if one or two of them fail, you
can’t get a replacement part.
“So what we do is we send loads of small robots that can work together in building
this structure. Think of it like this - an ants nest. If we build an ants nest and take
half of the ants away, the ants nest would still get built, but maybe a bit slower.
“Same thing here - if not all our robots arrive on Mars, it would still be able to
get built - it would take just a bit longer.”
Fred: “So what’s the next step - robots have made it to Mars, they’ve built these
cave structures for us. At what point do humans go there and what part do they play?”
Xavier: “Well it will take a few years before the shell structure is built. Then the astronauts
will come and they will also bring their habitat pods. So they’ll bring these inflatable
structures because remember going to Mars - you’re not going to be bringing heavy stuff.
“So we’re going to bring inflatable, collapsible structures with us and those will be inflated
and actually have that atmosphere and the pressurised environment that the astronauts will live in."
With the build phase complete, the robots would take on new roles, such as scouting
for new locations.
Fred: “So the way this proposal has been brought to life is just amazing. What kind
of software did you use for the animations and graphics and things?”
Xavier: “We actually worked with Epic Games and Unreal to create this real-time environment
so what you see here in the back of us is a real-time environment showing life on Mars
through a whole 24 hours.
“We’ve sped it up a bit otherwise it would take too long but you’ll see it goes day-night
and so forth - all done by a company called Lightfield in real-time with Unreal Engine.
“It helped us all to make really tiny adjustments all the time, so we were able to move the
robots, change the lighting and because we were working to such a tight deadline we had
to use a real-time engine to be able to do that.”
The environments that many of us associate with space travel tend to favour functionality
above all else, prioritising performance and equipment efficiency over human amenities.
But Hassell’s design turns this convention around and creates a habitat where the crew
can live and work in comfort and safety - in familiar surroundings - without sacrificing
the essential practical elements that a Mars base requires.
Xavier: “What we have here is our rack system. They’re all identical in shape but the in-fill
is always slightly different. Let’s go into the lab one - what I can do is I can open
it up, and I can just step into my lab, do the experiments…
“On the left here I have a workshop with 3D printer, even a sewing machine if we need
to fix stuff, and once this is all done I can close it up again and use other parts
of the habitat.”
The astronauts would be able to repurpose as much waste material as possible, from 3D
printing spare parts and tools to making clothes out of landing parachutes.
Xavier: “Imagine the astronauts - they will be having lots of waste plastics and waste
material from food packaging and from science experiments so we’re thinking to reuse and
recycle it and use that to 3D print furniture.”
Fred: “It looks really stylish as well - it doesn’t look like furniture that’s been
3D printed by a robot, it actually looks quite appealing.”
Xavier: “Well it’s been designed by a friend of ours - Manuel Jimenez Garcia - and
it’s printed in his factory in Spain so we actually use recycled plastics and all
of these are 3D printed and designed specifically for the 3D printing process.”
Fred: “What have you learnt from this that can be applied back home?”
Xavier: “I’ve learnt a lot about the circular economy and sustainability doing this project.
And you might think ‘well, designing something on Mars - that’s not sustainable?’
“That might not be on its own sustainable, but to be able to survive and thrive in an
environment like that we have to think about sustainability on every single level.
“That way you really start thinking about how precious our own environment is - how
precious our own Earth is.”
Fred: “This has got to be one of the coolest projects I’ve ever come across.
What's it been like to work on it?”
Xavier: “It’s been really interesting, especially as an architect designing a really
technical space. I hope it really shows when you compare this space to for example the
International Space Station, that’s purely done by engineers, that it really shows the
skill and the need for architects to be involved in really complicated engineering projects as well.
“As a designer, be brave and realise that our skill is really necessary and needed
in a whole range of different types of project.”
While many technological, financial and political challenges must be overcome before the first
manned mission to Mars, this remarkable concept - brought to life in such a compelling way
- makes the prospect seem much more feasible.
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