Architects Design 50-Meter Self-Building Moon Towers and Mars Habitats From Dust and Ice
Updated
Updated · spectator.com · Sep 14
Architects Design 50-Meter Self-Building Moon Towers and Mars Habitats From Dust and Ice
3 articles · Updated · spectator.com · Sep 14
Summary
Foster + Partners is developing lunar and Martian habitat concepts that would be largely built before crews arrive, including a 50-meter lunar tower designed to help construct itself with robots.
Regolith and ice sit at the center of the plans because hauling conventional building materials off Earth is prohibitively expensive; robots would excavate, transport and microwave-fuse local soil into protective shells.
Mars Ice House offers a parallel approach, using harvested subsurface ice to 3D-print a translucent radiation shield that also admits daylight, tying astronaut safety to mental well-being.
That psychological focus is spreading to orbital projects too, with Axiom commissioning Philippe Starck to design softer, more private station interiors as commercial outposts prepare to replace the ISS later this decade.
The work reflects a broader shift in the new space race: rockets may get people to the Moon and Mars, but durable settlements will depend on architecture that can create power, shelter and livable communities.