For years, people have speculated about the likelihood of life on Mars due to the planet’s proximity and similarity to Earth.
To kill the curiosity, NASA’s $2.5 billion Mars rover Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012 to find if Mars ever supported primitive life.
But if we are able to send people to Mars one day, what kind of homes will they inhabit?
NASA and MakerBot recently hosted a competition which asked entrants to make a 3D-printed model home suitable for the Red Planet. Participants were asked to take into account the extreme weather conditions, lack of oxygen and dust storms when designing their Martian abode.
Noah Hornberger’s modular beehive won the MakerBot Mars Base Challenge
The winner ‘Queen B’ concept home offers future architecture if humans successfully colonize Mars some day.
The ‘Queen B’ concept home is a space-saving and modular honeycomb design that’s flexible and compact. The hexagonal modules of this home are laid out flat.
The ‘Queen B’ features all the modern home comforts like a fully functional apartment
It has a kitchen, two bathrooms, a garden, laundry room and even a 3D print lab…all fitted inside 16 ft diameter hexagons. Each of the 10 hexagonal modules is arranged around a central lounge area that contains a couple of couches, a TV and a charging station.
The average temperature is around -80ºF (-60ºC) which makes it really really cold on Mars
An underground electric heater or an exothermic chemical reactor will be used to heat an underground water container. This would provide heat to the base camp. Excess steam could be used for steam power generators to supplement solar power.
