← Back to NASA Technology Projects
Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
The Phase 3: the On-Site Habitat Competition, completed in 2019, challenged competitors to fabricate sub-scale habitats, and had five levels of competition – three construction levels and two virtual levels. For the virtual levels, teams used Building Information Modeling software to design a habitat that combined allowances for both the structure and systems it must contain. The construction levels challenged the teams to autonomously 3D-print elements of the habitat, culminating with a one-third-scale printed habitat for the final level.
The long-term vision is that habitat-manufacturing machines could someday be deployed to the Moon, Mars or beyond to autonomously prepare shelters for the human explorers who follow.
Listed on TechPort itself — the most direct way to ask about this specific project.
This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.
None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.