NASA wants 3D-printed homes for people on Mars!

Human’s next destination is Mars. And the next giant leap for mankind is building a sustainable habitat on the red planet.

Behrokh Khoshnevis, professor at the University of Southern California has been reportedly working with NASA on the possibility of building a colony on Mars since 2011. And it’s going to be 3D-printed.

He created a 3D-printing method called Contour Crafting (CC), which made it possible to print a 2,500-square-foot building in less than a day on Earth. In conversation with CNN, he said, “Taking 1 kilogram of material from Earth to the moon would cost hundreds of thousands dollars. It was clear to me that these ideas were not economically viable.”

He stated that as the environment on Mars is hostile to humans, robots will be playing a major role in setting up a colony on Mars. It is predicted that robots will have to construct power grids, construction plants, landing pads and roads, all before humans even set foot.

Once Khoshnevis’ 3D-printer is rocketed to space, it will have to work independently, or be controlled remotely from Earth. He said, “Building in space is going to become commonplace in less than 50 years. There’s an abundance of energy and materials [and] in a short time, our capability to manufacture in space will be many times what we can do on Earth.”

Though there are no confirmed designs on how these 3D-printed buildings will look like. It is believed that the plans might look like something of sci-fi fiction. Khoshnevis says, “It's hard to imagine what we will have 100 years from now, or 50 years from now. But I have full confidence that we will conquer Mars and this solar system, and even beyond.”