NASA unveils igloo-style ‘Mars ice home’ designed for Red Planet explorers
Space agency shows off inflatable dome which uses frozen water to protect astronauts from harsh Martian environment
NASA has unveiled a grand design for an "ice home" which will allow explorers to live on the surface of Mars.
Human astronauts are expected to land on the Red Planet within 30 years, but will face harsh conditions when they arrive.
was created by Space Exploration Architecture and is designed to protect pioneers from space radiation as well as the extreme Martian temperatures.
It was dreamed up by four researchers after a day of brainstorming at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
“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,” said NASA senior systems engineer Kevin Vipavetz.
The Mars igloo features a large inflatable "inner tube" which is surrounded by a shell of water ice.
It is believed this ice could be dug out of the Martian soil and then used to protect the human explorers.
Once the crew are ready to go home to Earth, water from the igloo could even be converted to rocket fuel for the return trip.
NASA said ice was an "excellent shielding material for galactic cosmic rays", which can cause cancer or radiation sickness in astronauts.
Astronauts will be kept warm by a layer of carbon dioxide gas, which can also be harvested from the Martian environment.
It will take about 40o days to harvest enough water to fill up the igloo, but the building is designed to stand for several years at a time.
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“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’,” said Langley researcher Sheila Ann Thibeault.
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