Occupy Mars

Beirut | Outfitting a Mars Habitat: A 3D Print Challenge

Occupy Mars- Live Don't Survive

High-Level Project Summary

We chose this challenge because we believe that humans are destined to become a multi planetary species and reach the whole solar system, and Mars is the next step in this grand plan.Our Slogan is "Live, don't Survive" because life on a different planet should not be about just surviving, but building sustainable and comfortable communities. We also value mental health a lot and are trying to include solutions that are not given much importance in that area. We are also adding long-term systems such as a farming system and a system to extract water for multiple uses as well as creating multitasking tools for everyday life and improving the rover wheel design and a piezoelectric violin.

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oxWXrRJgcP9OwTc0I5Ge8-RI5eKUraFv?usp=sharing

Link to Project "Demo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDz9QSHe-eA

Detailed Project Description

Our Ideas and Solutions:

Our Powerpoint Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ukYjk_sFmZjVBmeTNJa_ejYUMEAaWtil/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=115993527080597058226&rtpof=true&sd=true

Water Extraction and Hydrolysis System (WEHS)

Water on mars is present in the form of ice and moisture in Martian soil. Heating this soil will vaporize the moisture which can be collected using condensation tubes into a storage tank. This water can be used in a hydroponic system to produce food, laundry and a hydrolysis system to dissect the water molecule into H2 for fuel and 02 for breathable air. This system is very primitive, and will be used in the first missions of Martian colonization. It is very easy to 3D print and can be easily attached to a Martian house. Further fully automated systems can be constructed in advanced stages of the colonization process.

1) Needs for a team of 5 astronauts:

For a one year, open looped mission, astronauts would need about

20000kg of 02

3000kg of liquid water

8000kg of Fuel

2) Water presence on mars

Ice is present on mars and can be dug out of soil 13 meters below the surface and can reach concentrations up to 18% by mass.

Glacial ice on mars is 100s of meters thick.

3) Extracting water from mars.

To extract water from mars, a giant 30 printed concrete case (this case shields the oven from the very low temperature) that houses a metal oven.

This system will be powered using solar energy that powers a heating plate. This system will be printed outside the compound.

Soil and Ice will be dug out and loaded into the furnace.

The heated permafrost will release water molecules that will condense when vapor circulates in a helical pipe (This pipe is also covered in a concrete tube that keeps the water liquid and shields it from temperature).

This pipe will reach the inside of the compound and liquid water will be

stored in a container.

This water will be used for used inside of the compound, for hygiene

showers, faucets and will also be used in a hydrolysis system that will be 3D printed and will provide the compound with 02 for breathing and H2 for fuel. It will also be used in a hydroponic system that will be used to grow vegetables on mars for very long periods of time.

Martian soil is rich in perchlorates with high levels considered toxic for growing plants. This is why we chose to avoid using soil for plant cultivation. Thus our farming system will consist of 2 main parts: hydroponic system and compost production.

Hydroponic system:

The system consists of 2'' plastic pipes placed vertically and connected to a water container which includes the nutrient solution and a small pump the circulate the solution.

The system has many advantages, mainly it will allow us to minimize water use by making the same solution circulating in the system and on the other hand it will allow to gain space by cultivating vertically.

However, the water collected by the hydrolyses system is considered distilled water which will not allow plant growth. To solve this problem we will try to extract nutrients from composted vegetables.

Compost Production:

In our mission we are provided with vegetables and fruits for daily consumption from wish we will collect waste and produce compost by adding heat and humidity. This process will take about 6 to 8 weeks to be finished.

Meanwhile we will collect seeds from vegetables and prepare them for planting by air drying. in 6 to 8 weeks, when compost is ready we can use it for nutrient extraction by adding warm water and pressing it and then collect the extract which will be considered as nutrient rich solution that can be used in the hydroponic system.

3d Varius Violin:

Since mental health is also an important part, music could solve a part of it. To avoid boredom in space missions I was inspired, since I like physics and music to create a tool to use music in solving part of this mission which took the name of 3dvarius violin.

" The aim of the current generation must be to provide the people of the world - born and unborn - a future devoid of power cuts, and a sustainable environment " - Tushar Jain

The violin is an instrument that produces on average in its normal tuning 396 Hz (string G3 196 Hz , string D4 294 Hz, string A4 440 Hz, and string E5 659 Hz)

Since Piezoelectricity was a nice discovery by the Curie Brothers, we could use it to generate electricity using the vibrations produced inside the violin.

To explain the model of Piezoelectricity we need two thin metal covering the piezoelectric crystals. First the charges on the Piezoelectric crystal are exactly balanced that means the electric dipole moments cancel each others out. On squeezing due to the high frequency vibrations, the charges are forced out of balance so the Dipole moment will be different than 0 so it will store AC energy. As Nikola Tesla said " To discover the key of universe, we should think of terms of energy, frequency and vibrations". Than to use this energy on systems we can convert it from AC to DC cause Piezoelectricity generates AC power and connect it to any system , when the astronaut musician plays the metals will vibrate then the electric charges will change conserving energy.

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” - Albert Einstein

Rover’s Wheel:

We used NASA’s resources to get the design of the wheel. After we got the design of our wheel, we started improving the design using CAD and Revitt. By researching and checking NASA’s resources, especially NASA’s Curiosity rover, we came to the conclusion that the best metal to use for building our damaged wheel is aluminum. We will use the 1st 3d-printer(metal) to build the wheel. But we also noticed something important which is adding a layer on the inside of the wheel made from polystyrene(plastic). This will act as a shock absorber when facing hard obstacles and small accidents when driving the rover. In addition, the design of the outer part of the wheel (the part that will be on the road) will be specific. It will have the shape of zigzags because this shape helps in driving easier when climbing on rocks and rigid surfaces. As for the middle, in between the zigzags, there will be a shape of a triangle since it forms traces when driving and this will help us find the track we took to go back home. Finally, we will close the interior of the wheel using plastic.

Also, we will turn the kinetic energy of the wheel to electrical energy using a stator.

Tools:

We are working on multi tasking tools such as the IPH (icebreaker pickaxe hammer) which is basically a pickaxe and a hammer on the sides and the ice breaker on the top. It is useful against the martian rocks and ice (since there is ice on the red planet) and there is a detachable flash light on the bottom of the handle

the IPH is made mainly with 3d printed metal with some of its part from 3d printed plastic. In addition we are working on kitchen tools such as multitasking knives the TMFS knife: the Millenium Falcon shaped knife ( the Millenium Falcon is a fictional spaceship from the movie Starwars by Marvel) its can be used as a cutting knife and can opener and it has a small measurements (one side of up to 6 inches and the other side is up to 10 cm) and it can measure angles in the middle. It also has an arc shaped blade on the top and it is mainly created with metals by the 3d metal printer.

Space Agency Data

https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/Mini-Perseverance-Rover-Wheel

https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/models

Hackathon Journey

Our space apps is unforgettable. We all worked together as a team to solve this challenge because we believe in a future life on Mars and we are trying to make it easier and more supportable. So for this reason, every team member developed an idea that will later be printed using the 3d printers whether it was the water extraction system or the farm or the wheel or the violin or the various tools. All these ideas will create a system to face many setbacks on Mars.

We would like to thank the global NASA team for giving us this amazing opportunity and of course we should thank the local team for all the support and help during and before the hackathon.