Oh, hello, welcome to my hive home. Her name is TERA, and she will be hosting me for the duration of my Martian preparation hibernation. Would you like a tour? Okay grand, let me show you around my egg.
TERA, like her more famous cousin MARSHA — you know, the large pine cone that won the 3D-printed Mars Habitat Challenge — is made of corn-based biopolymer, which seems great considering the surplus of corn overflowing our national storehouse. The biopolymer also incorporates basalt, which makes it strong like concrete (twice as strong, even), but without the staggering environmental impact. Although TERA lives in some woods near the Hudson River, rather than on Mars, her technologies are "space-grade." Maybe that comes in handy, because her creators see her IndieGoGo campaign as being "about the future of humanity," rather than just the innovative construction of a sustainable house. That's a lot of pressure, and if I were TERA, I think I'd want to be able to rocket off to Mars at a moment's notice, too. You know, just to clear my head.
Anyway, TERA will one day (March 2020) function as a rentable bed and breakfast.* As you can see, she features a quaint little kitchen pod featuring my personal favorite, the "food preparation counter." If you follow the spiral stairs up from the bathroom, you'll also find a living room — see how it "pours out to a beautiful 3D-printed terrace"? Very good for taking in the leaves. Then it's back up to the sleeping loft, where I will just tuck you in all safe and sound for the Mars trip. Shhhhhhh it's okay you're going to love it up there, everything is dust.
*If you want to book a stay in TERA, which is a real house developed by AI Space Factory that you will actually be able to rent come spring, you can donate to the IndieGoGo campaign.
