A surface mission to Mars will involve a lengthy stay in a harsh environment. Many have argued that this could be a psychologically draining experience as astronauts are forced into confined spaces with no light, perhaps underground away from harsh radiation. But architects Kelsey Lents and Jeffrey Montes don’t believe that’s necessary. They and their teams helped design the Mars Ice House, a 3D-printed ice dome that caught the eye of NASA and became a feasibility study to build a surface habitat.

WeMartians music is “RetroFuture” and “Electrodoodle” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/