Houses on Mars

Mars, we are coming! This is what our houses on Mars might look like. NASA has organized a competition to build houses on Mars. Competitors were tasked with designing a virtual model of a 3D-printed house on Mars. Out of 18 teams from all over the world, five winners were selected. Competitors were encouraged to use recycled materials and Martian resources in an effort to keep Mars waste free. The idea is to send robots to Mars to print houses for the arrival of astronauts. The winning designs included a garden for food and oxygen, a roof that bends in case of “marsquakes” and a round house with a recreational room on the top floor. Why has Mars rather than another planet been chosen to build houses on? Except for the Earth, Mars is the most suitable planet in our solar system for humans to live on. Its soil contains water. It isn’t too cold or too hot. There is enough sunlight. Gravity on Mars is 38% of that on the Earth, which is believed to be sufficient for the human body to adapt to. It has an atmosphere that offers protection from the Sun’s dangerous radiation. The day or night rhythm is very similar to ours here on the Earth: a Mars day is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds. Humans can’t live on Mars without the help of technology, but compared to the Moon and Venus, it’s a paradise!