NASA asked experts to design human habitats for future manned missions to Mars - here are the top designs

Team AI built their habitat — nicknamed MARSHA — based on the calculation that a cylindrical habitat would be the most effective for maximizing usable floor area and volume.

Cylinders are also highly effective pressure vessels — meaning it will take less energy to keep the atmosphere in the habitat similar to our planet's.

The habitat is designed to be 3D printed on Mars' surface.

Team Kahn-Yates third-place design proposes to use the lander as the basis for its habitat.

After the lander touches down on the Martian surface, a 3D printer constructs the working and living quarters around the lander. The habitat is designed to withstand intense Martian dust storms, like the one that marooned Matt Damon's character on the planet in The Martian.

SEArch+/Apis Cor's fourth-place proposal is designed to maximize radiation protection for the explorers, astronauts, and scientists who may call the habitat home in the thin Martian atmosphere.

The design uses regolith — the layer of dust and loose rocks that covers a planet's crust — as construction material, and is inspired by architecture on Earth.

Team Northwestern's fifth-place winning design proposes a modular set of parabolic domes that can be connected via a central building.

The habitats are designed to maximize space for conducting research and launching expeditions.