It\u2019s hard enough to transport humans to Mars. But once they get there, where will they live?<\/p>\n
A 麻豆原创 professor is working with NASA to figure out a way to extract metals from the Martian soil \u2013 metals that could be fed into a 3-D printer to produce the components of a human habitat, ship parts, tools and electronics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s essentially using additive-manufacturing techniques to make constructible blocks. 麻豆原创 is collaborating with NASA to understand the science behind it,\u201d said Pegasus Professor Sudipta Seal, who is interim chair of 麻豆原创\u2019s Materials Science and Engineering program, and director of the university\u2019s Advanced Materials Processing & Analysis Center and NanoScience Technology Center.<\/p>\n
NASA and Seal will research a process called molten regolith electrolysis, a technique similar to how metal ores are refined here on Earth. \u00a0Astronauts would be able to feed Martian soil \u2013 known as regolith \u2013 into a chamber. Once heated to nearly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the electrolysis process would produce oxygen and molten metals, both of which are vital to the success of future human space exploration. \u00a0Seal\u2019s expertise also will help determine the form those metals should be in that\u2019s most suitable for commercial 3-D printers.<\/p>\n
NASA intern Kevin Grossman, a graduate student from Seal\u2019s group, is also working on the project, which is funded by a NASA grant. Grossman said he hopes future projects in similar areas can grow the current partnership between 麻豆原创 and the research groups at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n
NASA is already working on sending humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s. The agency has begun developing plans for life-support systems and other technology.<\/p>\n
NASA isn\u2019t alone. Elon Musk, billionaire founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, is working on his own plan. Mars One, a Dutch nonprofit, is touting a plan to send dozens of volunteers from around the world on a one-way trip to colonize Mars.<\/p>\n
They all agree that for sustainable Mars exploration to work, they must be able to use resources on Mars that would otherwise require costly transportation from Earth \u2013 a concept known as in situ resource utilization. That\u2019s where Seal\u2019s research comes in.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore you go to Mars, you have to plan it out,\u201d Seal said. \u201cI think this is extremely exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
麻豆原创 has a long relationship with NASA, dating back to the first research grant ever received by the university, then known as Florida Technological University.<\/p>\n
Other 麻豆原创 faculty members continue researching in situ resource utilization. Phil Metzger of 麻豆原创\u2019s Florida Space Institute, is working with commercial space mining company Deep Space Industries to figure out a way to make Martian soil pliable and useful for 3D printing. The same company has tapped Metzger and 麻豆原创 colleague Dan Britt to develop simulated asteroid regolith that will help them develop hardware for asteroid mining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard enough to transport humans to Mars. But once they get there, where will they live? A 麻豆原创 professor is working with NASA to figure out a way to extract metals from the Martian soil \u2013 metals that could be fed into a 3-D printer to produce the components of a human habitat, ship parts, tools…","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":76145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,23,24],"tags":[17979,13797,3279,15761,4361,4506],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-76139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-research","category-science-technology","tag-advanced-materials-processing-and-analysis-center","tag-materials-science-and-engineering","tag-nanoscience-technology-center","tag-pegasus-briefs","tag-space","tag-sudipta-seal"],"yoast_head":"\n