The fourth episode of the Forging the Future series - Life Off Earth - focuses on the creation of permanent bases on the Moon and Mars. Our next step in the Space Race reveals how governments and private companies are now developing the means of living in outer space. We will see the Dream Chaser—a new, high-flying space shuttle that will ferry researchers to inflatable research habitats in outer space. We will see how an engineer is creating advanced, reusable spacesuits, and drills that will allow us to look for water elsewhere. These are just a few parts of the complex efforts needed to establish habitats on alien planets. One firm is developing habitats that are 3D printed with Martian soil, and will be pre-built before astronauts arrive. But one of the boldest endeavours lies in creating a living, breathing ecosystem that, through plant growth, generates oxygen and food for the first permanent settlers on the Moon and Mars.
