Alien Technology for Alien Worlds* Design for biological construction of living habitation on Mars

Exploring Mars offers opportunities to expand scientific knowledge, deepen our understanding of planetary evolution, and explore fundamental questions about life beyond Earth. A critical step in enabling human exploration of Mars is the development of habitats in a remote, harsh, and resource-limited environment, while reducing the reliance on transporting construction materials from Earth. The presented project - developed as doctoral research at the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, in collaboration with NASA’s Mycotecture off Planet project - explores the potential of mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi, as a versatile component of mycelium-based composites (MBC) for in-situ grown material for habitat construction.