Stanford SSI Wiki - User contributions [en]

Category:Extreme Environments

2026-04-11T23:38:46Z

Dgass:

The ''SSI Extreme Environments'' (formerly known as Mars) team designs and builds projects that operate in some of the most demanding and challenging conditions on Earth. The team designs technologies for environments where conventional approaches fail, like the weightlessness of microgravity, the crushing pressure of the depths of the ocean, and the freezing terrain of Antarctica. We push hardware and ideas to their limits, paving the way for expansion beyond Earth.

The active projects within the Extreme Environments team are the Polar Rover, Europa Benthic Landers, and the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) Payload. The Polar Rover is a semi-autonomous rover designed to transport payloads over unmapped terrain, reducing the need for human presence in extreme polar research environments. The Europa Benthic Landers are low-cost observation platforms that sink to the seafloor to collect data. The Europa team is inspired by the subsurface ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa and are currently testing in the waters off California. The IREC Payload is aboard a rocket developed by the SSI Rockets team and flies to 30,000 feet to study how Sodium Acetate crystallizes in microgravity.

{{nowrap|The current Extreme Environments co-leads are {{Leadership|Mars=true}}}}<nowiki/>

The 2025-2026 Mars co-leads were Colin Crown and Arden Boshler Wiese.

The 2024-2025 Mars co-leads were Jack Liu and Sydney Leigh Bohles.

The 2023-2024 Mars co-leads were Jay Siskind and Will Neal-Boyd.

The 2022-2023 Mars co-leads were Jolene Lee and Jenny Kim.

The 2021-2022 Mars co-leads were Andrew Lesh and Kylie Holland.

The current faculty advisor for the Extreme Environments team is [https://cee.stanford.edu/people/michael-lepech Dr. Michael Lepech].
==Teams==
[[File:Polar Rover Prototype at First Testing Retreat.png|left|thumb|This early prototype rover's GPS capabilities were tested at the March 2023 team retreat in Portola Valley. |alt=|243x243px]]

'''MARS POLAR ROVER'''

The Mars Polar subteam is constructing an GPS-based autonomously-navigated rover to replicate driving conditions at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_polar_ice_caps Martian polar ice caps] in order to guide future NASA exploration of Mars. The long term goal is to test the rover on an expedition across Antarctica to reach the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole Earth's South Pole]. Specifically, the rover will follow the charted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole_Traverse South Pole Overland Traverse] from coastal [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station McMurdo Research Station] to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Station Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station]. The subteam has already built two small prototype [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery lithium polymer battery]-powered rovers with custom-designed snow tires and GPS navigational functionality via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArduPilot ArduPilot] software. In the next stage of rover prototyping, we aim to incorporate solar panels, a [https://www.starlink.com/ Starlink] installation for internet access for live control and video streaming, and a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar LiDAR] module for object avoidance and path planning.

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VvZwXrIFKdYS2W_nLkxKdV_XsbOiWKyIfT9YEr1-bAs/edit here.]

'''MARS EUROPA'''

'''MARS MICRO-GRAVITY CRYSTALIZATION'''

== Prior Projects ==
[[File:Bricks Payload.png|thumb|The bricks payload is operated via a Raspberry Pi to control the injection of water into the soil composite mixture to create a solid building material.|alt=|220x220px]]

'''MARS BRICKS'''

The bricks subteam experiments with methods of turning Martian and lunar soil into building materials for habitats and other structures. The team works with [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061821024855 biopolymer-bound soil composite (BSC)], which is made of soil, protein binder, and water. BSC has similar compressive strength as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement Portland cement concrete], the world’s most common construction material. While concrete production accounts for about 8% of global CO2 emissions, BSC provides a possible carbon-neutral alternative and is also easy to produce from Martian resources. The team created a payload to autonomously create these Martian bricks in 0g (aboard the ISS), 1g (resting on Earth), and 2g (continuously spinning in a centrifuge). After winning a NASA contract, our payload was sent to the [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html International Space Station] to test it's formation in 0g. You can learn more [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YAVmKYJ_OveaZ8SErLf6SCCOloECbddL/view?usp=sharing here.]

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1skGbPGsTtTYo_auUtEarNrJxH0tcDeoltGQybplwCXk/edit?pli=1 here.]

'''IN SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION (ISRU)'''

[[File:Excavator Drum Prototype.jpg|thumb|The rotating drum of the lunar excavator attachment in the process of having its teeth replaced for a new test run.]]

ISRU is focused on identifying sources of needed elements and materials from one’s immediate surroundings. For example, while the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_surface Martian surface] is barren and desolate, its carbon dioxide atmosphere provides a source of carbon and oxygen while subsurface water ice provides a source of oxygen and hydrogen. Using [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/electrocatalysis#:~:text=Electrocatalysis%20is%20a%20catalytic%20process,the%20overpotential%20of%20the%20reactions. electrocatalysis] powered by solar panels, these two sources allow for the formation of breathable O2, methane for fueling rocket engines, and carbon monoxide for syngas. Meanwhile, Martian soil can be used as an aggregate base for concrete as well as a source for sulfur and basaltic minerals, whose significance is described below in Mars Bricks.

'''MARS EXCAVATOR'''

The SSI Mars team is collaborating with [https://astrolab.space/ Astrolab], an aerospace company, to participate in NASA's [https://breaktheicechallenge.com/ Break the Ice Challenge] to develop technologies to extract lunar regolith and water. As it is difficult and expensive to transport construction materials from Earth to the moon, this excavator will dig up regolith on the moon to use as a construction material for the long-term sustainment of human life, following our team's theme of ISRU. The excavator takes up the form factor of a large toothed rotating drum attachment for a lunar rover. In order to test the excavator's effectiveness, we developed a concrete imitation of lunar regolith with similar physical and compressive qualities with help from Stanford's civil engineering faculty.

==HOW TO JOIN:==
Join SSI, hop on the slack, and join [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CJ8RJN4KS #mars], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CP26XQU14 #mars-polar-rover], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C09HBULDPEF #mars-0g-fab], and [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C06FFBCAJVB #mars-europa].

{{Nowrap|Feel free to ping {{Leadership|Mars=True}} if you have any questions or just want to chat!}}

Category:Extreme Environments

2026-04-10T18:12:19Z

Dgass:

The ''SSI Extreme Environments'' (formerly known as Mars) team designs and builds projects that operate in some of the most demanding and challenging conditions on Earth. The team designs technologies for environments where conventional approaches fail, like the weightlessness of microgravity, the crushing pressure of the depths of the ocean, and the freezing terrain of Antarctica. We push hardware and ideas to their limits, paving the way for expansion beyond Earth.

The active projects within the Extreme Environments team are the Polar Rover, Europa Benthic Landers, and the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) Payload. The Polar Rover is a semi-autonomous rover designed to transport payloads over unmapped terrain, reducing the need for human presence in extreme polar research environments. The Europa Benthic Landers are low-cost observation platforms that sink to the seafloor to collect data. The Europa team is inspired by the subsurface ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa and are currently testing in the waters off California. The IREC Payload is aboard a rocket developed by the SSI Rockets team and flies to 30,000 feet to study how Sodium Acetate crystallizes in microgravity.

{{nowrap|The current Extreme Environments co-leads are {{Leadership|Mars=true}}}}<nowiki/>

The 2025-2026 Mars co-leads were Colin Crown and Arden Boshler Wiese.

The 2024-2025 Mars co-leads were Jack Liu and Sydney Leigh Bohles.

The 2023-2024 Mars co-leads were Jay Siskind and Will Neal-Boyd.

The 2022-2023 Mars co-leads were Jolene Lee and Jenny Kim.

The 2021-2022 Mars co-leads were Andrew Lesh and Kylie Holland.

The current faculty advisor for the Mars team is [https://cee.stanford.edu/people/michael-lepech Dr. Michael Lepech].
==Teams==
[[File:Polar Rover Prototype at First Testing Retreat.png|left|thumb|This early prototype rover's GPS capabilities were tested at the March 2023 team retreat in Portola Valley. |alt=|243x243px]]

'''MARS POLAR ROVER'''

The Mars Polar subteam is constructing an GPS-based autonomously-navigated rover to replicate driving conditions at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_polar_ice_caps Martian polar ice caps] in order to guide future NASA exploration of Mars. The long term goal is to test the rover on an expedition across Antarctica to reach the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole Earth's South Pole]. Specifically, the rover will follow the charted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole_Traverse South Pole Overland Traverse] from coastal [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station McMurdo Research Station] to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Station Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station]. The subteam has already built two small prototype [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery lithium polymer battery]-powered rovers with custom-designed snow tires and GPS navigational functionality via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArduPilot ArduPilot] software. In the next stage of rover prototyping, we aim to incorporate solar panels, a [https://www.starlink.com/ Starlink] installation for internet access for live control and video streaming, and a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar LiDAR] module for object avoidance and path planning.

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VvZwXrIFKdYS2W_nLkxKdV_XsbOiWKyIfT9YEr1-bAs/edit here.]

'''MARS EUROPA'''

'''MARS MICRO-GRAVITY CRYSTALIZATION'''

== Prior Projects ==
[[File:Bricks Payload.png|thumb|The bricks payload is operated via a Raspberry Pi to control the injection of water into the soil composite mixture to create a solid building material.|alt=|220x220px]]

'''MARS BRICKS'''

The bricks subteam experiments with methods of turning Martian and lunar soil into building materials for habitats and other structures. The team works with [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061821024855 biopolymer-bound soil composite (BSC)], which is made of soil, protein binder, and water. BSC has similar compressive strength as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement Portland cement concrete], the world’s most common construction material. While concrete production accounts for about 8% of global CO2 emissions, BSC provides a possible carbon-neutral alternative and is also easy to produce from Martian resources. The team created a payload to autonomously create these Martian bricks in 0g (aboard the ISS), 1g (resting on Earth), and 2g (continuously spinning in a centrifuge). After winning a NASA contract, our payload was sent to the [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html International Space Station] to test it's formation in 0g. You can learn more [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YAVmKYJ_OveaZ8SErLf6SCCOloECbddL/view?usp=sharing here.]

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1skGbPGsTtTYo_auUtEarNrJxH0tcDeoltGQybplwCXk/edit?pli=1 here.]

'''IN SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION (ISRU)'''

[[File:Excavator Drum Prototype.jpg|thumb|The rotating drum of the lunar excavator attachment in the process of having its teeth replaced for a new test run.]]

ISRU is focused on identifying sources of needed elements and materials from one’s immediate surroundings. For example, while the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_surface Martian surface] is barren and desolate, its carbon dioxide atmosphere provides a source of carbon and oxygen while subsurface water ice provides a source of oxygen and hydrogen. Using [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/electrocatalysis#:~:text=Electrocatalysis%20is%20a%20catalytic%20process,the%20overpotential%20of%20the%20reactions. electrocatalysis] powered by solar panels, these two sources allow for the formation of breathable O2, methane for fueling rocket engines, and carbon monoxide for syngas. Meanwhile, Martian soil can be used as an aggregate base for concrete as well as a source for sulfur and basaltic minerals, whose significance is described below in Mars Bricks.

'''MARS EXCAVATOR'''

The SSI Mars team is collaborating with [https://astrolab.space/ Astrolab], an aerospace company, to participate in NASA's [https://breaktheicechallenge.com/ Break the Ice Challenge] to develop technologies to extract lunar regolith and water. As it is difficult and expensive to transport construction materials from Earth to the moon, this excavator will dig up regolith on the moon to use as a construction material for the long-term sustainment of human life, following our team's theme of ISRU. The excavator takes up the form factor of a large toothed rotating drum attachment for a lunar rover. In order to test the excavator's effectiveness, we developed a concrete imitation of lunar regolith with similar physical and compressive qualities with help from Stanford's civil engineering faculty.

==HOW TO JOIN:==
Join SSI, hop on the slack, and join [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CJ8RJN4KS #mars], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CP26XQU14 #mars-polar-rover], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C09HBULDPEF #mars-0g-fab], and [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C06FFBCAJVB #mars-europa].

{{Nowrap|Feel free to ping {{Leadership|Mars=True}} if you have any questions or just want to chat!}}

Category:Extreme Environments

2026-04-10T09:36:25Z

Dgass:

The ''SSI Extreme Environments'' (formerly known as Mars) team designs and builds projects that operate in some of the most demanding and challenging conditions on Earth. The team designs technologies for environments where conventional approaches fail, like the weightlessness of microgravity, the crushing pressure of the depths of the ocean, and the freezing terrain of Antarctica. We push hardware and ideas to their limits, paving the way for expansion beyond Earth.

The active projects within the Extreme Environments team are the Polar Rover, Europa Benthic Landers, and the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) Payload. The Polar Rover is a semi-autonomous rover designed to transport payloads over unmapped terrain, reducing the need for human presence in extreme polar research environments. The Europa Benthic Landers are low-cost observation platforms that sink to the seafloor to collect data. The Europa team is inspired by the subsurface ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa and are currently testing in the waters off California. The IREC Payload is aboard a rocket developed by the SSI Rockets team and flies to 30,000 feet to study how Sodium Acetate crystallizes in microgravity.

{{nowrap|The current Extreme Environments co-leads are {{Leadership|Mars=true}}}}

The current Extreme Environments co-leads are


<code>'''[[File:SlackLogo.png|middle|25x25px]][https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/cgreen @Connor Green] '''</code> and <code>'''[[File:SlackLogo.png|middle|25x25px]][https://ssi-teams.slack.com/messages/dgass @Danny Gass] '''</code>

<nowiki/>

The 2025-2026 Mars co-leads were Colin Crown and Arden Boshler Wiese.

The 2024-2025 Mars co-leads were Jack Liu and Sydney Leigh Bohles.

The 2023-2024 Mars co-leads were Jay Siskind and Will Neal-Boyd.

The 2022-2023 Mars co-leads were Jolene Lee and Jenny Kim.

The 2021-2022 Mars co-leads were Andrew Lesh and Kylie Holland.

The current faculty advisor for the Mars team is [https://cee.stanford.edu/people/michael-lepech Dr. Michael Lepech].
==Teams==
[[File:Polar Rover Prototype at First Testing Retreat.png|left|thumb|This early prototype rover's GPS capabilities were tested at the March 2023 team retreat in Portola Valley. |alt=|243x243px]]

'''MARS POLAR ROVER'''

The Mars Polar subteam is constructing an GPS-based autonomously-navigated rover to replicate driving conditions at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_polar_ice_caps Martian polar ice caps] in order to guide future NASA exploration of Mars. The long term goal is to test the rover on an expedition across Antarctica to reach the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole Earth's South Pole]. Specifically, the rover will follow the charted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole_Traverse South Pole Overland Traverse] from coastal [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station McMurdo Research Station] to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Station Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station]. The subteam has already built two small prototype [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery lithium polymer battery]-powered rovers with custom-designed snow tires and GPS navigational functionality via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArduPilot ArduPilot] software. In the next stage of rover prototyping, we aim to incorporate solar panels, a [https://www.starlink.com/ Starlink] installation for internet access for live control and video streaming, and a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar LiDAR] module for object avoidance and path planning.

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VvZwXrIFKdYS2W_nLkxKdV_XsbOiWKyIfT9YEr1-bAs/edit here.]

'''MARS EUROPA'''

'''MARS MICRO-GRAVITY CRYSTALIZATION'''

== Prior Projects ==
[[File:Bricks Payload.png|thumb|The bricks payload is operated via a Raspberry Pi to control the injection of water into the soil composite mixture to create a solid building material.|alt=|220x220px]]

'''MARS BRICKS'''

The bricks subteam experiments with methods of turning Martian and lunar soil into building materials for habitats and other structures. The team works with [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061821024855 biopolymer-bound soil composite (BSC)], which is made of soil, protein binder, and water. BSC has similar compressive strength as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement Portland cement concrete], the world’s most common construction material. While concrete production accounts for about 8% of global CO2 emissions, BSC provides a possible carbon-neutral alternative and is also easy to produce from Martian resources. The team created a payload to autonomously create these Martian bricks in 0g (aboard the ISS), 1g (resting on Earth), and 2g (continuously spinning in a centrifuge). After winning a NASA contract, our payload was sent to the [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html International Space Station] to test it's formation in 0g. You can learn more [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YAVmKYJ_OveaZ8SErLf6SCCOloECbddL/view?usp=sharing here.]

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1skGbPGsTtTYo_auUtEarNrJxH0tcDeoltGQybplwCXk/edit?pli=1 here.]

'''IN SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION (ISRU)'''

[[File:Excavator Drum Prototype.jpg|thumb|The rotating drum of the lunar excavator attachment in the process of having its teeth replaced for a new test run.]]

ISRU is focused on identifying sources of needed elements and materials from one’s immediate surroundings. For example, while the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_surface Martian surface] is barren and desolate, its carbon dioxide atmosphere provides a source of carbon and oxygen while subsurface water ice provides a source of oxygen and hydrogen. Using [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/electrocatalysis#:~:text=Electrocatalysis%20is%20a%20catalytic%20process,the%20overpotential%20of%20the%20reactions. electrocatalysis] powered by solar panels, these two sources allow for the formation of breathable O2, methane for fueling rocket engines, and carbon monoxide for syngas. Meanwhile, Martian soil can be used as an aggregate base for concrete as well as a source for sulfur and basaltic minerals, whose significance is described below in Mars Bricks.

'''MARS EXCAVATOR'''

The SSI Mars team is collaborating with [https://astrolab.space/ Astrolab], an aerospace company, to participate in NASA's [https://breaktheicechallenge.com/ Break the Ice Challenge] to develop technologies to extract lunar regolith and water. As it is difficult and expensive to transport construction materials from Earth to the moon, this excavator will dig up regolith on the moon to use as a construction material for the long-term sustainment of human life, following our team's theme of ISRU. The excavator takes up the form factor of a large toothed rotating drum attachment for a lunar rover. In order to test the excavator's effectiveness, we developed a concrete imitation of lunar regolith with similar physical and compressive qualities with help from Stanford's civil engineering faculty.

==HOW TO JOIN:==
Join SSI, hop on the slack, and join [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CJ8RJN4KS #mars], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CP26XQU14 #mars-polar-rover], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C09HBULDPEF #mars-0g-fab], and [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C06FFBCAJVB #mars-europa].

{{Nowrap|Feel free to ping {{Leadership|Mars=True}} if you have any questions or just want to chat!}}

Category:Extreme Environments

2026-04-10T08:47:47Z

Dgass: I changed the description of the team as we changed the name.

The ''SSI Extreme Environments'' (formerly known as Mars) team designs and builds projects that operate in some of the most demanding and challenging conditions on Earth. The team designs technologies for environments where conventional approaches fail, like the weightlessness of microgravity, the crushing pressure of the depths of the ocean, and the freezing terrain of Antarctica. We push hardware and ideas to their limits, paving the way for expansion beyond Earth.

The active projects within the Extreme Environments team are the Polar Rover, Europa Benthic Landers, and the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) Payload. The Polar Rover is a semi-autonomous rover designed to transport payloads over unmapped terrain, reducing the need for human presence in extreme polar research environments. The Europa Benthic Landers are low-cost observation platforms that sink to the seafloor to collect data. The Europa team is inspired by the subsurface ocean of Jupiter's moon Europa and are currently testing in the waters off California. The IREC Payload, aboard a rocket developed by the SSI Rockets team, flies to 30,000 feet to study how Sodium Acetate crystallizes in microgravity, with applications in semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and optical materials.{{nowrap|The current Extreme Environments co-leads are {{Leadership|Mars=true}}}}

The 2025-2026 Mars co-leads were Colin Crown and Arden Boshler Wiese.

The 2024-2025 Mars co-leads were Jack Liu and Sydney Leigh Bohles.

The 2023-2024 Mars co-leads were Jay Siskind and Will Neal-Boyd.

The 2022-2023 Mars co-leads were Jolene Lee and Jenny Kim.

The 2021-2022 Mars co-leads were Andrew Lesh and Kylie Holland.

The current faculty advisor for the Mars team is [https://cee.stanford.edu/people/michael-lepech Dr. Michael Lepech].
==Teams==
[[File:Polar Rover Prototype at First Testing Retreat.png|left|thumb|This early prototype rover's GPS capabilities were tested at the March 2023 team retreat in Portola Valley. |alt=|243x243px]]

'''MARS POLAR ROVER'''

The Mars Polar subteam is constructing an GPS-based autonomously-navigated rover to replicate driving conditions at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_polar_ice_caps Martian polar ice caps] in order to guide future NASA exploration of Mars. The long term goal is to test the rover on an expedition across Antarctica to reach the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole Earth's South Pole]. Specifically, the rover will follow the charted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pole_Traverse South Pole Overland Traverse] from coastal [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMurdo_Station McMurdo Research Station] to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen%E2%80%93Scott_South_Pole_Station Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station]. The subteam has already built two small prototype [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_polymer_battery lithium polymer battery]-powered rovers with custom-designed snow tires and GPS navigational functionality via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArduPilot ArduPilot] software. In the next stage of rover prototyping, we aim to incorporate solar panels, a [https://www.starlink.com/ Starlink] installation for internet access for live control and video streaming, and a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar LiDAR] module for object avoidance and path planning.

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VvZwXrIFKdYS2W_nLkxKdV_XsbOiWKyIfT9YEr1-bAs/edit here.]

'''MARS EUROPA'''

'''MARS MICRO-GRAVITY CRYSTALIZATION'''

== Prior Projects ==
[[File:Bricks Payload.png|thumb|The bricks payload is operated via a Raspberry Pi to control the injection of water into the soil composite mixture to create a solid building material.|alt=|220x220px]]

'''MARS BRICKS'''

The bricks subteam experiments with methods of turning Martian and lunar soil into building materials for habitats and other structures. The team works with [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061821024855 biopolymer-bound soil composite (BSC)], which is made of soil, protein binder, and water. BSC has similar compressive strength as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement Portland cement concrete], the world’s most common construction material. While concrete production accounts for about 8% of global CO2 emissions, BSC provides a possible carbon-neutral alternative and is also easy to produce from Martian resources. The team created a payload to autonomously create these Martian bricks in 0g (aboard the ISS), 1g (resting on Earth), and 2g (continuously spinning in a centrifuge). After winning a NASA contract, our payload was sent to the [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html International Space Station] to test it's formation in 0g. You can learn more [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YAVmKYJ_OveaZ8SErLf6SCCOloECbddL/view?usp=sharing here.]

The team's most recent newsletter as of May 31st, 2023, can be found [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1skGbPGsTtTYo_auUtEarNrJxH0tcDeoltGQybplwCXk/edit?pli=1 here.]

'''IN SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION (ISRU)'''

[[File:Excavator Drum Prototype.jpg|thumb|The rotating drum of the lunar excavator attachment in the process of having its teeth replaced for a new test run.]]

ISRU is focused on identifying sources of needed elements and materials from one’s immediate surroundings. For example, while the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_surface Martian surface] is barren and desolate, its carbon dioxide atmosphere provides a source of carbon and oxygen while subsurface water ice provides a source of oxygen and hydrogen. Using [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/electrocatalysis#:~:text=Electrocatalysis%20is%20a%20catalytic%20process,the%20overpotential%20of%20the%20reactions. electrocatalysis] powered by solar panels, these two sources allow for the formation of breathable O2, methane for fueling rocket engines, and carbon monoxide for syngas. Meanwhile, Martian soil can be used as an aggregate base for concrete as well as a source for sulfur and basaltic minerals, whose significance is described below in Mars Bricks.

'''MARS EXCAVATOR'''

The SSI Mars team is collaborating with [https://astrolab.space/ Astrolab], an aerospace company, to participate in NASA's [https://breaktheicechallenge.com/ Break the Ice Challenge] to develop technologies to extract lunar regolith and water. As it is difficult and expensive to transport construction materials from Earth to the moon, this excavator will dig up regolith on the moon to use as a construction material for the long-term sustainment of human life, following our team's theme of ISRU. The excavator takes up the form factor of a large toothed rotating drum attachment for a lunar rover. In order to test the excavator's effectiveness, we developed a concrete imitation of lunar regolith with similar physical and compressive qualities with help from Stanford's civil engineering faculty.

==HOW TO JOIN:==
Join SSI, hop on the slack, and join [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CJ8RJN4KS #mars], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/CP26XQU14 #mars-polar-rover], [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C09HBULDPEF #mars-0g-fab], and [https://ssi-teams.slack.com/archives/C06FFBCAJVB #mars-europa].

{{Nowrap|Feel free to ping {{Leadership|Mars=True}} if you have any questions or just want to chat!}}