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America Makes and NASA Announce Top 30 Finalists of the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge
September 23, 2015 | Categories: America Makes News
Finalists to Be Judged and Cash Prizes, Totaling$50K, to Be Awarded at
Youngstown, Ohio — September 23, 2015. America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, and NASA are pleased to announce the top 30 finalists from more than 160 submissions of the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, a competition to design a 3D-printed habitat for deep space exploration, including the agency’s journey to Mars.
The design competition called on participants to develop state-of-the-art architectural concepts that take advantage of the unique capabilities 3D printing offers. Subject to the finalization of all contractual details and requirements, the top 30 team finalists are as follows and are listed in no particular order:
| 3DFebrication Technology (3DFABTECH | Martian Domes |
| InMoDe | LeeLabs |
| Mars Hab N1 | SICSA |
| Tridom | SEAarch/Cloud Architecture Office |
| LavaHive | Rustem Baishev |
| NBVS | Team Neiro |
| Team MASS | RED HOUSE |
| WSU 3D-Printing Research Team | N.E.S.T. |
| PARALLAX | A.R.C.H. |
| Space Is More | Team Staye |
| GAMMA | MP1-S7 |
| MOA Architecture | Mars Terrain Intelligence Collaborative |
| CTL Group: Mars | Hybrid Composites |
| Digital Structures | Tomasz Dzieduszynski |
| Redworks | IRONLIGHT |
Images and brief descriptions of each team’s submission can be viewed at www.3dpchallenge.tumblr.com.
“At the launch of this Challenge, both America Makes and NASA were excited to see what ideas and innovations the maker community would yield and needless to say, they did not disappoint,” said John Wilczynski, America Makes Deputy Director of Technology Development. “We look forward to the next round of judging at the World Maker Faire to determine the top 3 winners.”
Each of the top 30 finalists will have models on display at the 2015 World Maker Faire to be held on September 26-27, 2015, in New York where the finalists will be judged by a panel of industry experts. Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, totaling $50,000 will be awarded. Additionally, attendees of Maker Faire will vote for the “People’s Choice Award” from among the finalists.
The 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program, is designed to advance the additive construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions for Earth and beyond. Shelter is among the most basic and crucial human needs, but packing enough materials and equipment to build a habitat on a distant planet would take up valuable cargo space that could be used for other life-sustaining provisions. The ability to manufacture a habitat using indigenous materials, combined with material that would otherwise be waste from the spacecraft, would be invaluable.
The Centennial Challenges Program is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., for the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more information about the 3-D-Printed Habitat Challenge, visit http://AmericaMakes.us/Challenge and www.nasa.gov/3DPHab.
Follow us on Twitter @3DPChallenge and stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at 3DPChallenge.
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America Makes Media Contact
Scott Deutsch
724-539-4760
NASA Media Contact
Janet Anderson
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
About America Makes
America Makes is the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute. As the national accelerator for additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing (3DP), America Makes is the nation’s leading and collaborative partner in AM and 3DP technology research, discovery, creation, and innovation. Structured as a public-private partnership with member organizations from industry, academia, government, non-government agencies, and workforce and economic development resources, we are working together to innovate and accelerate AM and 3DP to increase our nation’s global manufacturing competitiveness. Based in Youngstown, Ohio, America Makes is the flagship Institute for the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) infrastructure of up to 45 Institutes to follow and is driven by the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM). For more information about America Makes, visit http://americamakes.us.
About NCDMM
The NCDMM delivers optimized manufacturing solutions that enhance the quality, affordability, maintainability, and rapid deployment of existing and yet-to-be developed defense systems. This is accomplished through collaboration with government, industry, and academic organizations to promote the implementation of best practices to key stakeholders through the development and delivery of disciplined training, advanced technologies, and methodologies. For additional information, visit the NCDMM at http://ncdmm.org.