Home Sweet Home On Mars? NASA Released The Concept Of The Structure

NASA shows its conceptual model of a building that may someday be a structure that is located on Mars. The model house, if it happens, would serve as a shelter for the astronauts on the Red Planet. It is part of the daring goal of NASA to send humans to Mars by 2030.

NASA revealed that the structure called as "Mars Ice Home" would bank on a protective coating of ice coming from the planet's surface. The low-tech building would serve as a protection of astronauts from the harmful cosmic radiation found on the Red Planet.

The researchers mentioned that the Red Planet is equipped with ice reservoirs beneath the surface. They compared it with the Lake Superior. Thus, experts look at the material while envisioning the future house for residents in Mars, according to The Huffington Post.

Ann Thibeault, a researcher from Langley, said that, "The materials that make up the Ice Home will have to withstand many years of use in the harsh Martian environment, including ultraviolet radiation, charged-particle radiation, possibly some atomic oxygen, perchlorates, as well as dust storms - although not as fierce as in the movie 'The Martian'."

The facilitator of the design session at NASA's Langley Research Center who produced the idea teams up with Clouds Architecture office Kevin Vipavetz said that, "After a day dedicated to identifying needs, goals and constraints, we rapidly assessed many crazy, out of the box ideas and finally converged on the current Ice Home design, which provides a sound engineering solution," according to Express.

However, the design is not yet final as it is one of the potential concepts for buildings that will be sent to Mars. The idea still holds a different question. Just like it needs to be lightweight and be able to launch using robots and filled with water before the residents will arrive.

Furthermore, the "Ice Home" is an amazing idea. However, it is not yet sure which design will NASA choose for the Red Planet. One of the drawbacks of the dome would be it would take them more than a year to fill it with ice.

Kevin Kempton from the Langley Research Center said that the timeline does not worry him. He added that the design of the dome would make the astronauts feel like "in a home and not a cave. After months of travel in space, when you first arrive at Mars and your new home is ready for you to move in, it will be a great day."