The Mars Ice House, Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture Office was awarded first prize in NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Challenge to design a 3D-printed Mars habitat.

One of the challenges of building a habitat on Mars is going to be materials, said scientists. Because transporting enough materials to build shelter will increase shuttle’s payload. The only option left is building house using material that is already available on Mars, CNET reported.

The winning team said, “As water is baseline resource for future outposts on number of extra-terrestrial carbon-bodies, NASA has adopted 'follow the water' approach towards exploration. As such, water is our Team's primary material resource in the formation of the Ice House habitat design”.

The team said after knowing the predicted abundance of water in certain areas on Mars, they took full advantage of the water and its properties. They said it can act as an indigenous material that acts both as a life-force to sustain a human and plant ecosystem, and, when 3D printed, as our primary fabrication material.

Design of the house presented by the team includes a translucent ice construction. It conical habitat would allow natural light to enter the space, they team said. The team said as the water provides a highly effective radiation shield; it would protect the inhabitants from radiation that's stronger on Mars than Earth due to its thinner atmosphere.

The habitat construction consists of an outer ice shell, with the habitat inside, for a double layer of protection. The inside of the habitat will have multiple levels, private and communal spaces are provided. It will also have vertical hydroponic garden facilities for supplementing the crew's oxygen and food supplies.

"Given the predicted abundance of water in certain areas on Mars, our approach takes full advantage of its properties as an indigenous material that acts both as a life-force to sustain a human and plant ecosystem, and, when 3D printed, as our primary fabrication material."