Martian exploration and settlement at any meaningful and sustainable scale will depend on the utilization of materials found on Mars. This is enabled by in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies. ISRU circumvents the hard limits of the rocket equation wherein every 10 pounds of rocket needs roughly 90 pounds of propellant. Without ISRU the cost of importing materials from Earth renders the project of extraterrestrial futures impossible.

To get around this, Space agencies and companies plan to send machines in advance of human crews to harvest the raw Martian materials and process them into forms that can be deposited and assembled into homes and other structures. Thus, using technologies tested on Earth first, our future Mars habitats can be built ahead of our arrival.

MARSHA is a first principles rethinking of what a Martian habitat could be – not another low-lying dome or confined, half-buried structure but a bright, multi-level, corridor-free home that stands upright on the surface of Mars. Where structures on Earth are designed primarily for gravity and wind, Martian conditions require a structure optimized to handle internal atmospheric pressure and thermal stresses. Marsha's unique vertically oriented, egg-like shape maintains a small footprint, minimizing mechanical stresses at the base and top which increase with diameter. Standing tall on the surface grants the human crew a superior vantage point to observe a dynamic landscape with weather patterns, clouds, and shifting hues – their new home and object of study both. The tall, narrow structure reduces the need for a construction machine to continuously rove on the surface, reducing risk and increasing speed and accuracy.

These innovations challenge the conventional image of “space age” domes by focusing on the creation of spaces tuned to both known and anticipated physical and psychological demands of a Mars mission.