Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
Nobody want's to build stuff on Earth and then send it to the Moon or Mars - now when you can make use of materials already present and save yourself those pesky transportation costs. And we'll call it "mycotecture"!
NASA's Innovative &Advanced Concepts program - (NIAC) - Phase III award to Lynn Rothschild:
— 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧 (@DavidBrin) June 26, 2024
Mycotecture Off Planet: En Route to the Moon and Mars
Lynn Rothschild, NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)https://t.co/KvLPZV1rD5
Grow space habitats with the help of fungi and mushrooms!
Some habitats, such as landers and rovers, will be delivered to planetary surfaces. However, the mycotecture project team is developing technologies that could “grow” habitats on the Moon, Mars, and beyond using fungi and the underground threads that comprise the main part of fungi, known as mycelia. With this development, explorers could travel with a compact habitat built out of lightweight material containing dormant fungi. By adding water, fungi can potentially grow around that framework into a fully functional human habitat, while being safely contained to avoid contaminating the environment...The mycotecture project could enable a new, multi-use material for in-space construction, reducing mass and saving resources for additional mission priorities. The proof of concept for this technology was demonstrated through earlier NIAC awards. The team created multiple combinations of fungal-based biocomposites, fabricated prototypes, tested materials in a planetary simulator, evaluated enhancements including incorporating radiation protection, and drafted detailed mycelium-based Moon habitat designs.
(Via NASA)
Science fiction writer Larry Niven started working on this idea in 1968, in A Gift From Earth. He thinks of using ocean coral as a building material:
The remnants of the shaping balloon, which gave all architectural coral buildings their telltale bulge, had been carefully scraped away......A genetic manipulation of ordinary sea coral, it was the cheapest building material known. The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.
(Read more about Larry Niven's architectural coral)
Update 28-Jun-2026: I've found an earlier reference for the idea of coral being used as a building material. See artificial coral from The City That Walked (1939) by Ed Earl Repp. End update.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/14/2024)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Living Space ")
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?' - Jane Webb Loudon, 1828.
Amazon Will Send You Heinlein's Knockdown Cabin
'It's so light that you can set it up in five minutes by yourself...' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.
Elegant Bivouac Shelter Produces Water And Electricity
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...' - Arthur C. Clarke.
AI-THu Shapeshifting Transformer Home
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.' - Fritz Leiber, 1943.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
Biological War: A Scenario
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
Pole-Dancing Stripperbot Robot
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
'We'll show them whose planet this is!'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
