Icon, BIG, and NASA Group Reveal Plans for Mars Habitation Research Structure

NASA, the Austin-based robotics startup Icon Technology, and the global design firm Bjarke Ingels Group have revealed their plans for Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D-printed habitat created to research the potential for human habitation of the red planet. Designed by BIG and 3D printed by Icon’s Vulcan construction system, the 1,700-square-foot rectilinear structure is currently being printed inside the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, as part of NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog program. There, researchers can use the project to gain insight into “NASA’s space food system, as well as physical and behavioral health and performance outcomes for future space missions,” according to a joint press release from BIG and Icon.

Mars Dune Alpha will contain four private crew quarters, workstations, medical stations, food-growing stations, and shared living spaces for the test crew, which NASA is actively recruiting. Varied ceiling heights will help delineate each area, helping crew members “avoid spatial monotony.” In addition to fixed and movable furniture, the structure will also contain customizable lighting, sound, and temperature control to support the daily rhythm and well-being of the crew.

The construction of Mars Dune Alpha will also help researchers test the potential of 3D printing and additive construction technology in space—techniques that could significantly reduce the load of building materials that space explorers might otherwise need to transport.

“This is the highest-fidelity simulated habitat ever constructed by humans,” said Jason Ballard, Icon co-founder and CEO, in the same release. “Mars Dune Alpha is intended to serve a very specific purpose—to prepare humans to live on another planet.”