Description of Challenge

NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge Phase 3 On-Site Habitat is a prize competition with a $1,700,000 total prize purse to develop the fundamental technologies necessary to manufacture an off-world habitat using mission recycled materials and/or local indigenous materials.

The goal of NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge is to foster the development of new technologies necessary to additively manufacture a habitat using local indigenous materials with, or without, recyclable materials. The Challenge is broken into three parts as described below.

• Design Competition - focused on developing innovative habitat architectural concepts that take advantage of the unique capabilities that 3D-Printing offers (completed in 2015)
• Structural Member Competition (Phase 2) – focused on the core 3D-Printing fabrication technologies and materials properties needed to manufacture structural components from indigenous materials combined with recyclables, or indigenous materials alone; served as a qualifier for participation in Phase 3 (completed in 2017)
• On-Site Habitat Competition (Phase 3) – focuses on the 3D-Printing fabrication of a scaled habitat design, using indigenous materials combined with or without recyclables, and has a prize purse of $1.7 million.