NASA Awards $100,000 in 3D-Printing Habitat Competition

The first printing segment of NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is now complete,

and the U.S. space agency has awarded $100,000 to the two winning teams. Based on a points system, the "Phase 2: Level 1 Compression Test Competition" winners are Foster + Partners | Branch Technology of Chattanooga, Tennessee (awarded $85,930), and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (awarded $14,070), NASA officials said in a statement. Through a partnership with both NASA's Centennial Challenges program and Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge aims "to foster the development of technologies to manufacture a habitat using local indigenous materials with, or without, recyclable materials," NASA officials wrote in the statement. [3D Printing in 10 Ways 3D Printing Will Change Space Travel]When humanity eventually becomes an interplanetary species, settling on Mars and beyond, people will need to use the resources that are locally available as building material for habitats, agency officials have stressed. It would be expensive and unsuitable to ship building materials all the way from Earth, after all. Space industry experts also hope that the 3D-printing technologies developed for space exploration may also be used on Earth in the near term, for building shelters in regions where construction materials are in short supply. By setting up competitions, NASA hopes to attract "citizen inventors" from diverse backgrounds to develop 3D-printing technologies for space exploration.        https://www.livescience.com/59130-nasa-3d-printed-habitat-challenge-awards.html