The firm has designed a shelter for up to four astronauts on Mars that would be 3D printed by a fleet of robots.

The design was created as part of the 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, organised by America Makes and NASA, for which Foster + Partners has been shortlisted among the competition's 30 finalists. The proposal covers not only what form the shelter would take, but how it would be constructed.

It is proposed that the 93 sq m (1,001 sq ft) structure would be built by semi-autonomous robots prior to any astronauts arriving at the Red Planet. The material used to construct the habitat would be the loose soil and rocks found on the surface of Mars, known as regolith. This, of course, would eliminate the need to transport construction materials from Earth.

Foster + Partners says that three different types of of robot would be used. By using large numbers of robots, a high level of redundancy is said to be built into the approach. If one robot were to fail, another could complete its task.