[SpaceProgram] Challenges of Building A House on Mars

[Alex Cureton-Griffiths]

Interesting article about NASA's quest for a Mars habitat:
http://www.txchnologist.com/2012/be-it-ever-so-humble-the-challenges-of-building-a-house-on-mars

Interesting points that could be good project fodder:
* NASA is investigating ways to build an electrostatic radiation
shield to protect astronauts
* NASA is also looking at ways to repurpose discarded supplies and
packaging to build up the habitat wall over time.
* building a Martian or Lunar habitat involves a lot of thought about
how to keep bad things out, including dirt
* standard of living for astronauts.
* "On a first trip to Mars it would be impossible to build from
materials found on the planet. Every component of the habitat will
either have to be preplaced or arrive with the astronauts" - what
methods could we use to change this? autonomous mining and
construction robots sent up before humans?