【TED】How to build for human life on Mars

Let's imagine together we've gone on an eight-month journey and arrived to the planet Mars. Yes, Mars. Somehow we'll have to figure out how to build protective and durable structures to shield us against solar radiation, galactic cosmic rays and extreme temperatures swings. On a Mars mission, there's only so much that we can bring with us from Earth. And it's prohibitively expensive to launch tons and tons of construction materials into space.

我们一起来想象一下， 我们踏上了长达八个月的旅途， 来到了火星。 没错，就是火星。 我们得搞明白 如何建造耐久的防护建筑， 保护我们免受太阳辐射、 宇宙射线和温度剧变的伤害。 探索火星之时， 我们能从地球带走的东西十分有限。 将成吨的建筑材料发射升空， 价格十分高昂。

So to realize a pioneering habitat that progressively grows, adapts and expands into a permanent outpost, we have to think differently about how we build. These habitats and the robots that build them will enable humanity to thrive off-world.

如果我们想要 找到一个全新的栖息地， 让其逐渐发展、 调整、扩张成一个永久基地， 我们需要在建造方式上 “不同凡想”。 这些新家园和建造它们的机器人 可以让人类的繁荣延伸至宇宙。

I am a space architect. I design and conceive habitats supporting human exploration in deep space, like on the surface of Mars. Not only do I design spaces for optimal crew health and performance, but I also investigate what these habitats are and how they're going to be built.

我是一名太空建筑师。 我设计规划我们未来的栖息地， 让人类可以探索外太空， 比如火星表面。 我不仅会为乘组的健康 和状态设计最佳空间， 还会研究这些栖息地是什么， 如何建造。

Now, Mars is so far from us that communications delays can take up to 22 minutes one way to or from Earth. And what that means is that we can't rely on real-time telerobotics controlled by people on Earth to supervise what happens in construction on Mars or for that matter, to supervise anything that happens when we're exploring the planet. But if we leverage autonomous robotics, we'll send 3D printers and other construction robots to build protective habitats and shelters before the crew even arrives.

火星与我们相隔“千”里， 与地球之间的单程 通信延迟可达 22 分钟。 这就意味着， 我们无法使用实时遥控机器人， 由地球上的人员操控， 监控火星上的施工进程， 或者监控我们探索火星时 发生的任何事。 但是如果我们考虑使用自主机器人， 就可以把 3D 打印机 和其他工程机器人先送过去， 在人员抵达之前， 建造防护设施和住所。

So how exactly would 3D printers build a habitat on Mars? Well, first we have to figure out what these structures are made out of. Just like early civilizations, will use in situ regolith, commonly known as dirt, and other resources that are local and indigenous to the planet, including water, and possibly combine them with additives and binders that we bring from Earth to engineer high-performance construction materials. Our goal when we're designing these habitats is to introduce an airtight structure that can withstand internal pressurization, which is what will allow people to live in a breathable and temperate environment on the inside.

3D 打印机 如何在火星上创造家园呢？ 首先，我们得搞清楚 这些建筑都由什么材料构成。 如同早期文明会 利用原有的风化层， 即我们熟知的“泥土”， 以及该星球其他的本地原生资源， 包括水， 也许加上一些从地球带来的 添加剂和粘合剂， 由此制造出高性能建筑材料。 我们设计栖息地的目标是 设计出一种可以承受 内部增压的密闭结构， 让人类可以在可呼吸、 温和的内部环境中生存

The robots that we deploy on Mars will need to perceive and interpret the complexity of a construction site in order to sequence and choreograph different types of tasks. These tasks will include prospecting Mars and surveying for a site to build, collecting raw materials, processing those materials and maneuvering them around. Some of these bots might resemble the character Wall-E, except, you know, not so cute. Once the site has been excavated and foundations are printed, these structures are manufactured layer by layer by layer. And as construction progresses, prebuilt and preintegrated hardware like airlocks or life support equipment brought from Earth are inserted into the print until finally they're sealed at various connection points.

我们部署在火星上的机器人 必须监测、解析 建筑工地上的复杂情况， 然后进行不同任务的排序和协调。 这些任务包括勘探火星、 选择建设地点、 收集原材料、 处理材料、运输材料。 有些机器人可能会 长得像瓦力（Wall-E）， 但是没有那么可爱。 工地动工、地基设计完成之后， 这些结构就会被 一层一层地搭建起来。 随着项目进展， 预先建造和组装的硬件， 如从地球带来的 气密舱和救生设备， 会被纳入建筑设计， 直至被安装固定在 不同的连接点上。

To do more than just survive in space, we need to create environments that positively contribute to well-being for months and years into the future. And as more civilian astronauts travel to space, it's important that our environments are more than the tightly packed mechanical interiors of the International Space Station, which today represents the state of the art for long-duration human life in space. We also want to incorporate practical architectural elements such as access to natural light through windows and greenery. These were features that were missing aboard the space station when it was first commissioned, but which we know are critical to positive psychological functioning and well-being. For long duration missions in deep space, it's important that crew members feel less like they're living in a machine and more like they're living in a home.

我们部署在火星上的机器人 必须监测、解析 建筑工地上的复杂情况， 然后进行不同任务的排序和协调。 这些任务包括勘探火星、 选择建设地点、 收集原材料、 处理材料、运输材料。 有些机器人可能会 长得像瓦力（Wall-E）， 但是没有那么可爱。 工地动工、地基设计完成之后， 这些结构就会被 一层一层地搭建起来。 随着项目进展， 预先建造和组装的硬件， 如从地球带来的 气密舱和救生设备， 会被纳入建筑设计， 直至被安装固定在 不同的连接点上。

There are other ways of approaching habitat construction on Mars. Hard-shell or inflatable structures may not provide the radiation protection that we need, and living underground in lava tubes doesn't quite support direct surface exploration on the planet. And also, why would you travel for eight months to live underground? Designing structures in space is all about mitigating risks and the habitats that we create will need to be the most durable and the most resilient structures ever conceived. Future off-world surface habitats will be self-regulating and self-maintained structures to support the crew members while they're there, but also to operate autonomously when they are not.

我们部署在火星上的机器人 必须监测、解析 建筑工地上的复杂情况， 然后进行不同任务的排序和协调。 这些任务包括勘探火星、 选择建设地点、 收集原材料、 处理材料、运输材料。 有些机器人可能会 长得像瓦力（Wall-E）， 但是没有那么可爱。 工地动工、地基设计完成之后， 这些结构就会被 一层一层地搭建起来。 随着项目进展， 预先建造和组装的硬件， 如从地球带来的 气密舱和救生设备， 会被纳入建筑设计， 直至被安装固定在 不同的连接点上。

Before we send anyone to Mars, we need data to answer some very key questions about human health, safety, and to validate each of these construction activities. Fortunately for us, we have a testbed and a proving ground much, much closer to Earth. That's our own Moon. Today we're working with NASA to demonstrate how we'll 3D-print infrastructure like landing pads, roadways and eventually habitats directly on the lunar surface. The Moon is a critical pit stop to refuel, resupply and serve as a general platform for vehicles traveling to deep space, and we'll use the technologies establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon to travel to, from and operate on the surface of Mars.

在我们把人送上火星之前， 我们需要一些数据来 回答几个关于 人类健康和安全的关键问题， 还要验证每一个建设项目。 幸运的是， 我们有一个离地球近得多的 试验台和试验场。 那就是我们的月球。 我们现在正与美国国家 航空航天局（NASA）合作， 证明如何 3D 打印出基建， 如停机坪、道路和直接建在 月球表面的住所。 月球是一个关键的停靠站， 提供燃料补给，补充供给， 为飞向外太空的航天器 提供一个通用平台， 我们将利用科技让人类 永久存续于月球表面之上， 穿梭于月球和火星之间， 并在火星表面进行工程。

What else are we doing to advance the viability of 3D printing for building in space? Well, for one thing, we can demonstrate that 3D-printed structures can support people in a mission-like environment right here on Earth, and use data from those experiments to set standards and requirements for future Mars missions. This is what we did in designing and building Mars Dune Alpha, a 3D-printed analog habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, referred to as the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog -- that's a really long name, I know -- this structure will house four volunteer crew members simulating a one-year mission to Mars, including a 20-minute communications delay. The first mission is kicking off later this year, but you could actually apply to be a crew member in this habitat sometime in the future. Or if you're not so inclined, you can suggest it to someone else in the name of research.

在我们把人送上火星之前， 我们需要一些数据来 回答几个关于 人类健康和安全的关键问题， 还要验证每一个建设项目。 幸运的是， 我们有一个离地球近得多的 试验台和试验场。 那就是我们的月球。 我们现在正与美国国家 航空航天局（NASA）合作， 证明如何 3D 打印出基建， 如停机坪、道路和直接建在 月球表面的住所。 月球是一个关键的停靠站， 提供燃料补给，补充供给， 为飞向外太空的航天器 提供一个通用平台， 我们将利用科技让人类 永久存续于月球表面之上， 穿梭于月球和火星之间， 并在火星表面进行工程。

If you're one of the chosen few, you'll be sharing 1700 square feet of living and working areas with three others, and that includes an aeroponic garden for plant growth, a communications area, an exercise room, as well as individual crew cabins that are very cozy, just six by 12 feet.

如果你成为了入选的天之骄子， 你将与另外三人共享 1700 平方英尺的生活和工作空间， 包括种植用的气培花园、 交流空间、健身房、 非常舒适的独立座舱， 面积为 6 × 12 英尺。

Some of you may be thinking, "Well, building in space, this is a topic pretty far removed from our day-to-day lives. How might it impact what we do on Earth today? In my experience, designing for an extreme environment that is the most restrictive and that presents the most constraints, and which literally no human has ever gone before, is what gives us the best chances of creatively engineering solutions to problems here on Earth that seem completely beyond our grasp today. Problems like housing solutions for the chronically homeless or hurricane and disaster relief housing. Or rethinking sustainable practices within construction overall, which, according to the UN, is responsible for up to 30 percent of carbon emissions worldwide. The autonomous technologies that we develop for building in space redound to us on Earth. They feed back and pay dividends to how we reimagine and reconceive construction happening today.

有些人可能会想： “嗯，太空施工， 与我们的日常生活 风马牛不相及。 怎么会影响我们现在 在地球上做的事呢？” 凭我的经验， 为极端环境做设计， 这种环境限制很多，条件严苛， 以前从未有任何人类涉足于此， 但是，正是这样的环境 给了我们一个绝佳机会， 让我们可以巧妙地解决地球上 一些目前看似超出 我们能力范围的问题。 比如为长期流浪者提供住房问题， 飓风、救灾临时住所。 重新考虑施工过程中的 可持续实践， 据联合国， 占据了全球碳排放的近 30%。 我们为太空施工开发的自主技术 也可以让地球上的人们受益。 这些技术反馈、助益我们 重新构建、设想当今的施工过程。

The fact of the matter is that the most habitable planet is the one we live on right now. I don't like treating space like it's a lifeboat for humanity from an ailing planet Earth. We can either solve for how to build smarter and more sustainably today, or we'll have to think about designing for survival on an Earth more extreme and more foreign than any of us have ever known. And this to me cannot be the primary reason or driver why we explore and venture into deep space.

重要的是最适合居住的星球 就是我们现在身处的星球。 我不想把太空看作人类的救生船， 逃离病危的地球。 我们现在得解决如何更智慧、 更可持续地进行建设， 或者思考如何在未来更极端、 陌生的地球上 为生存做计划。 对我来说，这不应该是我们 探索深入外太空的主要理由和驱动

It's been over 50 years since any human has traveled outside of Earth's orbit. Things are about to change. We will develop a permanent Moon base, and we will build autonomously on Mars. We are on the cusp of seeing radical transformation and how we build on Earth and how we push past limits to a new frontier of human exploration in space.

人类飞越地球轨道 已经过去了超过 50 年的时间。 该发生一些改变了。 我们将建设一个永久的月球基地， 并在火星上自主建设。 巨变近在眼前， 我们将改变地球上的建设方式， 如何超越极限， 到达人类太空探索的新境界。

Thank you so much.

谢谢大家。