3D MaRS. Martian Recovery Structure

The Lunar Landing in 1969 highlighted how space exploration allows us to develop and test processes, materials, and tools to be used on Earth. Nowadays, within an increasingly dynamic global transformation context, Mars is currently the frontier of exploration. Inside the research sector of building engineering, it is getting more and more compelling to understand how current conception, design, and fabrication tools could be used on Mars. Within digital fabrication, on-site large-scale 3D printing allows us to remotely perform local automated processes. In fact, the recent digital tools for architecture open alternative perspectives for the entire building process: from computational design for environmental analysis, form-finding, topology optimization, and advanced detailing to the on-site construction robots. In addition to the terrestrial field applications, additive manufacturing has also been tested as a building technique for long-term constructions on Mars. This research focuses on the potential of architectural digital tools for designing and building extraterrestrial recovery structures. More specifically, the aim is to define an integrated digital workflow (extended from computational design to on-site digital fabrication) applied to the recovery structure for Rosalind Franklin rover (ExoMars2022 ESA mission). A design experiment, with a computational-parametric approach and its iterative logic, is intended as the main research tool. The analysis of the design outcomes is crucial to evaluate the functionality of the workflow and to define future implementations.