There is a silly design competition where you upload designs for mars base hardware in the
hopes of winning a 3D printer, just found out about it this morning:
MakerBot Mars Base Challenge
"Could you live on Mars? Certainly not without great design and engineering.
That's why we, in cooperation with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are excited
to present the Makerbot Mars Base Challenge. Taking Mars’ extreme cold, high radiation
levels, lack of oxygen, and frequent dust storms into consideration, design a utilitarian
Mars base that can withstand the elements and maybe even make you feel at home, despite
being 140 million miles away from Earth, on average.
Learn more about Mars and what kind of home could actually sustain life there on the
Imagine Mars site.
Upload your design to Thingiverse with the tag #MakerBotMars between May 30th and June
12th. Entries must be tagged #MakerBotMars to be considered and will be judged by a
subjective panel of NASA-JPL and MakerBot employees on scientific feasibility, creativity,
and printability.
Learn more about Mars at the Mars Facts site."
check it out - i hope to add one or two things tonight:
http://www.thingiverse.com/challenges/Mars
cheers