To infinity & beyond

Agatha Mintus

The context of architecture is incessantly evolving and consequently demanding adaptation of buildings and designs to new lifestyles, challenges and extreme environments. In the near future, one of the new contexts will be the long-term presence of humans in outer space. It requires creating a selfsufficient station supporting and protecting crew members from harmful and hazardous conditions. The role of designers is increasing since the longterm manned missions are inevitable and the realization of the concepts is requiring involvement from all disciplines. The next are three different design approaches in the space industry I have experienced.

Figure 1. EVA area in LunAres,

Author: matiaž tančič

LunAres Research Station – creating a scientific platform

The first approach is the creation of facilities providing spaces for studying the technology and the impact of mission and space conditions on humans. Currently, the main issue regarding long-term manned mission is humans. With the technology that we have, it is already possible to travel, explore and establish space stations in the nearby planetary system. However, the effects of being in space on psychological and physiological aspects are still unknown. Many experiments are performed on ISS (International Space Station), which provides a real space environment to measure and monitor its impact. Additionally, many medical and psychological studies are focusing on the effects of isolation, supply limitations, artificial environment on humans. These can be tackled on Earth, in specialised facilities – analogue habitats.

One of the analogue habitats I was able to co-design was LunAres, a research station for manned space mission simulation, located at the post-military airport in Poland. The facility provides full isolation, allowing for complex research on the psychological and physiological impact of long-term extra-terrestrial human presence. Since the establishment in 2017, there were 26 scientific publications made in collaboration with LunAres during 10 official missions. The studies address the impact of several limitations considering space, communication, food, daily routine, health and wellbeing. The facility also introduced the first mission with disabled people to study how the procedures and interiors in space should be adapted to an accident-scenario. LunAres is designed for a 6-member crew with the current habitat plan of 176m2 habitable space and 250m2 Extravehicular Activity (EVA) area. The habitat is divided into 7 modular containers providing different conditions and functions (Laboratory, Kitchen + Storage (Galley), Dormitory, Operations, Gym, Workshop, Sanitary Module. The “Atrium” module, connecting all of the rooms together, is covered with cupola creating open, multifunctional space. The concept of functional plan and space dimensions were determined through research on associated literature and existing references. The concept of separating dirty modules from clean ones, noisy from quiet and common from private was implemented in the design. At the same time, the organization of functions provides fast access between associated modules.

Figure 2: Plan of the habitat,

Source: lunares.space

The cutting edge service compared to other existing analogue habitats are the full isolation, including habitable space and EVA area. The complex studies are supported by smart monitoring and control of indoor conditions, such as temperature, humidity, light colour and intensity, power and water usage. The constant gathering of big data allows for detailed and accurate comparison of different factors with physical and psychological state of crew members. The equipment and technology support the sense of isolation and distance. The reusability of water, hydroponic and aeroponic food production are developing the facility into the simulator of a self-sufficient station, which could be helpful with studies on sustainable space exploration.

Space is More – complex and interdisciplinary exploration of the unknown

Young and interdisciplinary teams are often responsible for creating bold concepts, which are introducing solutions for challenges and new lifestyles. Those ideas might be an inspiration and driving factor for developing real, sustainable technologies. As a student and member of the Space is More team, I was able to take part in mission design competitions related to long-term human presence in space. During these contests, the role of an architect is to propose a structure, functional planning and a design compatible with mission scenarios and life support system. Moreover, the unfamiliar conditions, such as lack of gravity, require new ergonomic strategy and functional organization.

Figure 3: EVA activity during the Endymion mission.

Source: Space is More.

One of the projects presenting complex work on implementing new requirements in architecture is the Phobos Base, done for the 2017 AIAA Student Design Competition – Human Spaceflight. Habitat was designed according to NASA-STD-3001 Space Flight Human- System Standard (1) . The interior was planned to ensure efficient transit, physical and psychological health and the wellbeing of crew members. Despite almost lack of gravity, we propose creating an artificial orientation – a vertical feeling of ‘up’ and ‘down’. To strengthen this impression the stronger light was located on ‘ceilings’ and the most frequently used equipment was put on ‘walls’ to give a sensation of right and left sides.

The habitat consists of 4 expandable modules with habitable functions and 3 rigid modules which provide access between each module and exterior. General organization of the habitat determines 4 main functions divided into inflatable modules: private activity, group activity, food production (green module) and dirty module. They are connected to one rigid node which is also a main entrance to the hab. Spaceport docking systems are located on the top of the station and a detached airlock – the transition between exterior and courtyard. The main functional aspect of the design is a separation of clean and tidy habitable space from a dirty area with EVA, workshop and astrobiology lab. The impure parts of the station are divided by hygiene modules where each crew member must cleanse before entering the habitable space. Another vital design objective was to create a favourable interior for the psychological health and wellbeing of crew members. For this purpose, the private zone was located far apart from group activities and noisy equipment.

Installations in the habitat were designed so that with minimized space it can access every part of the interior. Therefore, we use the core in the Bigelow module (expandable module) and the inner side of the module’s shielding walls for all installations. Ventilation installation is piped to every separated space in the habitat. Additionally, CO2 is led to food production rooms to contribute towards cultivation by airflow. Water is piped from a tank lying outside the habitat to every hygiene module. Next to the hygiene module, there is a filter for dirty chemical water which might be reused in toilet, shower or laundry. Water waste from the toilet and the galley reaches storage in green rooms and can be used for food production. In the end, the Phobos project showed how most of the principles we currently use in design can directly translate into a design for space exploration, a human-centered approach.

Figure 4: General view of the Phobos Base Concept.

Source: spaceismore.com

Building on Mars – experimental & searching approach

But, how did my interest in outer space started? Designers and architects are becoming one of the researchers in the space industry field, as the creation of safe space compatible with life-support and mission-support systems are essential for space exploration. Additionally, the studies of in-situ construction and manufacturing on moon or Mars are becoming important as the approach of ISRU (in situ space resources utilization) is the current concept for missions (2). This was the topic of my experimental thesis research done at the TU Delft under supervision from Fred Veer, Oguzhan Copuroglu and David Peck.

The buildings on Mars, tackled in the ISRU approach, could use the regolith (Martian soil) as a building material. To minimize the transportation and dependence from Earth’s supplies, energy for manufacturing and construction should also be produced on-site. Considering water as an essential element for life-support systems, low-tech adobe type building materials, could be the ideal option for the first missions. Two basic processes required for the production of low-tech adobe blocks are thermal treatment and compaction (3) . According to the authors, the adjustment of the material’s composition could improve the product's properties and minimize energy demand for production. The concept of optimisation by controlling material composition was studied in this research.

The composition of the material was based on the Martiansimulant MGS-14 and adjusted to ease and improve the specific production method. Based on ongoing researches, there were 7 different compositions determined, improving either compression or thermal treatment process. The composition was adjusted by sieving, based on the study of Martian minerals and their grain size range in dust or regolith(5). The Amount of chosen minerals, such as a nano-ferric oxide or amorphous phase were increased to improve compaction (6). Another potential solution studied, was the particle packing method (7) . Thermal treatment was improved by increasing the amount of elements,which have the lowest melting point, to minimize heating temperature or time of heating (8, 9).

The results had shown that low-tech rammed regolith is a low energy sustainable building material for Mars that can provide sufficient structural strength to build vaults.

During the experiments, regolith substitute has been compressed into blocks using compression bench with the loading pressure of 9,5kN and loading time of 5 minutes. During the compression, the displacement versus time was measured. Half of the specimens were further processed with thermal treatment to compare the impact of different compositions on this process. The samples were put in the oven, heated up for 4h to 600 ˚C, which is the melting point of used plagioclase or 120 ˚C, which is the melting point of sulfur. Next, they were tested mechanically with the pressuring rate of 1mm/min, and the maximum load of 10000N. For each specimen, the stress (σ MPa) the strain (ε) and the Young’s Modulus were calculated and analysed with graphs.

The mechanical test proved that the change in composition can improve the mechanical properties of the specimens. According to the results, the addition of amorphous phase minerals and nanophase ferric oxide made the material stronger. The specimens with additional amorphous phase were in general stronger, could withstand bigger deformation, but also deformed very fast. The addition of nanophase ferric oxide made the material more brittle, but more resistant to stress (up to 12MPa). The specimens with the addition of sulfur powder had mostly the highest peaks for compression strength. This composition made the material more brittle, resistant to low deformation and small cracks. Based on the analysis of the results in terms of energy input and rocket payload, the specimens, that had sufficient mechanical properties, as well as an efficient production process, were chosen. The best option was the additional amount of nano ferric oxide, as the material with sulfur powder would be independent of Earth’s supplies.

The results had shown that low-tech rammed regolith is a low energy sustainable building material for Mars that can provide sufficient structural strength to build vaults. Moreover, the adjustment of regolith composition could minimize the energy demand and improve the manufacturing processes. The introduced optimization method, using regolith composition adjustment, is a promising way of improving the efficiency of the production process and increasing the mechanical properties of the building material. This composition could be further developed by finding the best ratio between minerals and best grain size distribution. In this report the compositions had only one variant (which was adding an extra 5% of chosen mineral), however, there might be a better percentage. Moreover, the combinations between these optimisations could be further researched. This shows how experimental researches can be a good basis for further development.

Conclusions

The presented projects show the experimental approach as the link between them. The unknown in the space topics is still a driving force. There's a need for testing, researching and going beyond the standard. As designers, we can take an active part in the development of the space industry. By experimenting with the architectural and building aspects, we could support research taking innovation and knowledge from other studies. By creating futuristic and bold concepts we could inspire others to pursue their space dreams and goals as scientists, engineers, and designers. And finally, designing a platform beneficial for other experts and researchers working in this field is essential. Creating an environment for interdisciplinary collaboration and sharing of big data could bring us closer to human presence in space.

References

Reference 1: NASA. (2015). NASA Space Flight Human-System Standard Volume 2: Human Factors, Habitability, and Environmental Health. Washington DC. Retrieved from http://standards.nasa.gov/.

Reference 2: Jordan, M. R. (2017). The Road To Red Rocks: a History and Critique of Mars Exploration and Select Mars Mission Models. https://doi. org/10.13140/RG.2.2.32326.27209

Reference 3: Vieira Nobrega, A. C., & Barbosa, N. P. (2019). Current Development and Future Needs for Natural Earth Construction: A State-of-the-art Review. In U. T. Bexerra, H. S. Ferreira, & N. P. Barbosa (Eds.), Bio-Inspired Materials (6th ed.). Bentham Science Publisher.

Reference 4: Cannon, K. M., Britt, D. T., Smith, T. M., Fritsche, R. F., & Batcheldor, D. (2019). Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants. Icarus, 317, 470–478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.08.019

Reference 5: Achilles, C. N., Downs, R. T., Ming, D. W., Rampe, E. B., Morris, R. V., Treiman, A. H., … Morookian, J. M. (2017). Mineralogy of an active eolian sediment from the Namib dune, Gale crater, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 122(11), 2344–2361. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JE005262

Reference 6: Chow, B. J., Chen, T., Zhong, Y., & Qiao, Y. (2017). Direct Formation of Structural Components Using a Martian Soil Simulant. Scientific Reports (Vol. 7). Nature Publishing Group. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01157-w

Reference 7: Malkanthi, S. N., & Perera, A. A. D. A. J. (2019). Particle Packing Application for Improvement in the Properties of Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks with Reduced Clay and Silt. Technology & Applied Science Research (Vol. 9). Retrieved from www.etasr.com

Reference 8: Barmatz, M., Steinfeld, D., Anderson, M., & Winterhalter, D. (2014). 3D Microwave Print Head Approach for Processing Lunar and Mars Regolith. In 45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. https://doi.org/2014LPI....45.1137B

Reference 9: Wan, L., Wendner, R., & Cusatis, G. (2016). A novel material for in situ construction on Mars: experiments and numerical simulations. Construction and Building Materials, 120, 222–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.05.046

About Author

Agata Mintus

MSc. Building Technology, Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft

With a background in architecture with a specialization in Building Technology, Agata gained knowledge and experience by taking part in international competitions, workshops and projects related to space. She is a co-founder of Space is More company. She works as an architect and board member. Currently, she is developing the analog research station called LunAres. Her goal is to contribute to space exploration by researching on extra-terrestrial habitation and building technologies.

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