Life Beyond Earth

Events Space Architecture

Life Beyond Earth

Introduction

The Moon Village is a partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and faculty in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), established in 2018 to explore aspirations for a permanent lunar settlement through cross-industry collaboration to influence future thinking about sustainable exploration architectures. The idea for a “Moon Village” was first presented by ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner, as a vision for an open architecture based on global cooperation among multiple nations and multiple partners combining their expertise toward the common objective of enabling long-term human exploration of the Moon. In 2019 the partnership unveiled the first glimpse into this multidisciplinary project revolving around principles of resiliency, self-sufficiency, and near-term architectural solutions. In January 2020, a Memorandum of Collaboration (MOC) was signed at ESA’s headquarters and the cooperation was extended to improve space architecture technologies emphasizing a systematic examination of concepts for near-term deployable habitation systems. The evolution of this collaboration initiated a study within ESA’s Concurrent Design Facility (CDF), to focus on mission requirements, potential solutions, and required technologies for integrated surface habitation, encouraging design innovation and alternative methodologies for extra-terrestrial architecture.

My Role

My role in the Moon Village Partnership was as the Primary Investigator and Chief Space Architect. I was responsible for building the partnership with ESA that began in 2018 working directly with ESA HQ in Paris and the Director General who had envisioned the framework known as the “Moon Village”. With the DG office, I coordinated the formal agreement that included industry, government, and academia partners. I selected faculty at the Department of AeroAstro and Media Lab at MIT including Retired NASA Astronaut Jeffrey A Hoffman who brought valuable insights and experience from working and living in space as well as ESA Astronaut Claudie Haignere. Additionally, I was able to bring together an interdisciplinary team at ESA across their different research and development facilities who showed great interest in developing a vision for the future human space exploration on the Moon. I was responsible for coordinating meetings with and working sessions with ESA scientists, engineers, and students as well as the team at SOM. Together we established the constraints, and mission architecture and developed a design that was integrated with the systems needed to support the concept of the Moon Village. I was the Chief Space Architect responsible for designing the vertical hybrid habitat architecture. I placed a significant emphasis on the integration of systems and habitability for the design as well as structural design and overall mission architecture. This project included a cross-functional interdisciplinary approach which was enabled by the international team. Together with ESA, I led an in-depth study of the architecture including mission concept design and systems engineering over a series of intense sessions conducted by the multidisciplinary team at the European Space Research & Technology Centre (ESTEC). The ESTEC team composition included expertise from (Systems, Mission Architecture, Structures, Thermal, Materials & Processes, Mechanisms, Radiation, Power, Life Support, Advanced Concepts, GNC, ISRU, Safety, and Architecture).

Life Beyond Earth results from an international multidisciplinary initiative to explore the limitations of inhabited environments beyond Earth including advancing the territory of architecture and inspiring us to confront the consequences of future societies in new environments. This work examines what it takes to maintain life under the extreme conditions of extraterrestrial environments.

Five decades after humans first set foot on the Moon, a renaissance of human space exploration is underway—and this time, the aspiration is to establish a permanent settlement on the Moon. Solving the challenges of a sustained lunar presence requires cross-disciplinary collaboration and a completely new way of approaching this ambitious goal. In Life Beyond Earth, ESA, SOM, and MIT worked together to provide a diverse range of expertise to envision a future Moon Village.

Resiliency and self-sufficiency are essential to making this endeavor sustainable. The master plan envisions the Moon Village on the rim of Shackleton Crater near the South Pole, which receives near continuous daylight throughout the lunar year for optimal solar energy potential. This planning envisioned a series of phases where several critical infrastructural components and habitable structures would allow the Village to harness sunlight for energy and set up in situ resource utilization (ISRU) experiments, including the generation of food and other life-sustaining elements using the Moon’s natural resources. Water from the permanently shadowed depressions near the South Pole would be extracted to create breathable air and rocket propellant for transportation and for the support of industrial activities. The settlement would be clustered close to the crater’s water-ice deposits. Additionally, each cluster of modules would be connected to enable seamless mobility between structures, with communications towers on the highest ridges of the uneven terrain.

The individual pressurized modules are designed using softgoods technology to increase user space for future growth and program requirements. The concept calls for three to four-story structures, with workspaces, living quarters, and environmental control and life support systems. These inflatable structures would provide—together with regolith-based protective shells—resistance to extreme temperatures, projectiles, regolith dust, and solar radiation. More importantly, these features would enable the Moon Village to carry out its purpose as a scientific, industrial, and development ecosystem.

A thriving and sustained settlement on the Moon requires a phased approach to development that begins with location. The criteria for site selection optimize access to resources, energy, and long-term development goals. It includes proximity to sites of scientific interest, water, exposure to sunlight and resource utilization for civil infrastructure including landing zones. In addition to the criteria, key objectives should be supported including exploration, basic research, international cooperation, technology development, surface operations, human safety, and human/robotic collaboration.

PHASE I (Delivery of equipment and infrastructure for transport, power, and ISRU construction.)

This phase includes the delivery of basic equipment and infrastructure that will support subsequent missions with larger elements including habitats. It includes a solar tower power system with fuel cell storage and a 60kW Nuclear Fission Power Plant. Mobility and transport systems such as Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV), Lunar Surface Manipulation System (LSMS), ATHLETE, Mobility System (MS), Pressurized Rover and Crane System (CS). ISRU robotic equipment similar to the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Excavator and Regolith Sintering Robot (RSR) will need to be delivered for the purpose of building basic civil infrastructure prior to the delivery of larger elements.

PHASE II (Initial contact with the site and preparatory site work prior to the delivery of the first habitation system.)

This phase includes teleoperated characterization, ISRU construction, and site preparation for landing and habitat sites. Preliminary master planning of the Moon Village is defined and zones for power, habitation, and ISRU are delineated.

PHASE III (First Habitat is delivered to the site for emplacement and deployment followed by the first crewed mission to the lunar surface.)

This phase established the first habitat as part of the Moon Village and enables crews to cycle through subsequent missions that support the delivery of additional habitats and additional power systems, ISRU equipment, cargo, and other infrastructure. Construction of larger civil infrastructure such as berms, landing pads, roads, and foundations begin.

PHASE IV (The development expands to include several habitats, multiple power stations, road networks, landing zones, ISRU shelters, propellant plants, production facilities, and advanced industry-scale ISRU.)

This phase establishes operational techniques and capabilities with surface activities that expand beyond basic civil infrastructure. Cycling crews from international partners continue expanding the settlement and building specialized habitation systems that are interconnected. The Moon Village evolves into a permanent settlement with a wide range of industrial and scientific activities.

Credit: SOM, ESA, MIT

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AIAA Space Architecture Award

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