An Overview of Recent and Future Lunar/Mars Habitat Terrestrial Analogs

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1 An Overview of Recent and Future Lunar/Mars Habitat Terrestrial Analogs 6 th International Agrospace 2014 Workshop May 22-23, Sperlonga, Italy Sadler Machine Co. Photo Courtesy NASA THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Controlled Environment Agriculture Center Systems and Industrial Engineering Photo Courtesy NASA NASA Photo

2 For our purposes: Terrestrial Analogs (or Space Analogues) are locations on Earth with assumed past or present geological, environmental or biological similarities and conditions of that of Moon or Mars and used to prepare for future human surface exploration missions Photo Courtesy NASA

environmental or biological similarities and conditions of that of Moon

3 NASA has proposed Lunar Missions to the South Pole of the Moon at Shackelton s Crater while Mars areas of interest are more in equatorial locations Photo Courtesy NASA

4 NASA s Curiosity Rover s Mars Images Photo Courtesy NASA

5 Photo Courtesy NASA

6 Photo Courtesy NASA

7 Assumptions; Use of any one terrestrial Lunar/Mars analog environment cannot reproduce all facets of a future mission Polar and high altitude locations are considered to have the highest fidelity for mission development Habitat design will be common to both the Lunar and Mars applications consisting of 4-6 persons A human Mars mission of over 1.5 years on the surface is the ultimate target Given Mars CO 2 atmosphere, ISRU water, and sunlight, BLSS will be included Mission to Mars, 2000 Touchstone Pictures

both the Lunar and Mars applications consisting of 4-6 persons A human Mars mission of over 1.

8 Numerous prototype habitats are being developed and tested, many in analog environments. NASA s Deep Space Habitat Desert Rats, Flagstaff,AZ Photo Courtesy NASA

9 Planetary Surface Habitat and X-Hab built for NASA by ILC Dover Photos Courtesy ILC Dover

10 NASA s Toroidal Lunar Habitat built by ILC Dover and University of Maine s Lunar Habitat Photos Courtesy ILC Dover Photos Courtesy UMaine

11 NASA s Inflatable Habitat built by ILC Dover for NASA-JSC and tested at the NSF s McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Below, the University of North Dakota s Inflatable Lunar Habitat with membrane envelope and space frame structure.

12 It is difficult to find out much about the Chinese space program s Lunar Palace 1, but they are making progress in BLSS and have initiated closed system testing with human subjects.

13 Mars Society s Desert Mars Research Station Hanksville, Utah Photos Courtesy of Mars Society

14 The Mars Society s MDRS supports crews in a Mars analog environment in Utah s high desert. Their habitat is spacious, accessible, and even has support from Elon Musk for their observatory. Drawings Courtesy Mars Society

15 Location of Houghton Crater on Devon Island, a meteor impact crater and high fidelity Mars analog. The site of both NASA and the Mars Society s field camps Courtesy of NASA

16 Houghton-Mars Project an international interdisciplinary research project supported by the Mars Institute, NASA, CSA, SETI, et.al., in the high Canadian Arctic used as a Mars analog. Photos Courtesy NASA

17 Mars Society s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station Houghton Crater, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada Photos Courtesy of Mars Society

18 Mars 500 was a joint effort between Ruscosmos-ESA-China for a space psychosocial experiment for long term isolation of Mars crews conducted in Moscow at the Institute of Bio- Medical Problems Photos Courtesy of ESA

19 Three different crews were isolated in this mockup of a Mars mission habitat and vehicles for 15, 105, and finally 520 days to determine the future problems crews may experience during a Mars Mission. Photos Courtesy of ESA Photos Courtesy of ESA

days to determine the future problems crews may experience

20 HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation), is a joint effort with the University of Hawaii, Cornell University, and NASA investigating culinary and psychological aspects of future Moon and Mars missions on Hawaii s Mauna Loa volcano at an altitude of ~2400m. Photos Courtesy of NASA

investigating culinary and psychological aspects of future Moon and Mars

21 The University of Arizona s Biosphere II Tucson, Arizona Courtesy of Univ. Arizona

22 Aerial view of Biosphere II, note the lungs to accommodate the expanding atmosphere during the day as the sun shines on this closed system Courtesy of Taber MacCallum

23 The initial crew of Biosphere II that occupied this closed system for two years while producing their own food, recycling their own water, and revitalizing their own atmosphere Courtesy of Corbis

24 A cut-away drawing of the Biosphere II showing the different biomes that make up this early Bioregenerative Life Support System Courtesy of Taber MacCallum

25 The agriculture biome that supported 8 people for two years, yet this area was not sufficient and the crew lost weight. This is important in that NASA s estimates are that half the calories of a single crew member can be generated in the size of one unit in the UA-CEAC/SMC Lunar Greenhouse. This represents a huge challenge for our intensive agriculture efforts. Courtesy of Taber MacCallum

26 The Biosphere II at sunset Courtesy of Taber MacCallum

27 NASA tasked Lockheed in 1992 to identify the best terrestrial analog sites for their Human and Habitation Systems, they concluded South Pole Station to be one the best. This is facilitated by the NSF-Office of Polar Programs logistical capabilities in Antarctica. McMurdo Station is their central logistical supply hub. Photos Courtesy of NSF-OPP

28 Photos Courtesy of NSF-OPP

29 U.S. National Science Foundation s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station at the Geophysical South Pole (alt. 2835m) Photos Courtesy of NSF-OPP

30 Other Polar stations also offer good analog possibilities such as the French-Italian Concordia Station at Dome-C and the German AWI Neumeyer Station. The stations that are higher with smaller crews increase the fidelity of the analog. Concordia (alt. 3233m) Photo Courtesy of AWI Photo Courtesy of ESA

31 Summit Camp on the Greenland Icecap is another possible analog location, isolated, high elevation (3,200m), cold, located relatively close to U.S. and EU, doing real astronomy. The down side is that snow accumulation is considerable. Photos Courtesy of NSF-OPP

32 The McMurdo Dry Valleys- 100km from McMurdo Station Photos Courtesy of NSF-OPP

33 The McMurdo Dry Valleys are very cold and it is an extremely arid desert where some locations have not seen precipitation in recorded history, it is one of the driest places on Earth. Apollo Mission astronauts trained here in the late 60 s Dry Valleys Martian Surface average temperature of C Photo Courtesy of NSF-OPP Photo Courtesy of NASA

34 Snow on the Polar Plateau has many similar properties to Lunar regolith and could be used for an analog in habitat development, especially if a mass based approach is required for radiation shielding Polar Plateau Lunar Surface C recorded Surface temperature (Austral Night) C recorded temp (Lunar Night) C at ~ 30 cm depth C at ~ 30 cm depth Barometric Pressure Barometric pressure 9psi cabin pressure. Lunar Regolith load under Lunar Gravity ~ 275kg/Nm-3 (619lbs) Snow load under Earth Gravity ~ 330kg/Nm-3 (749lbs) Crew Isolation 335 days Crew Isolation 6 months Moon 500+ Mars 4 months continuous light Peak of Eternal Light- over 80% light Photo Courtesy of NSF-OPP Photo Courtesy of NASA

35 Photos Courtesy of NSF-OPP

36 Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSS); the use of biological approaches for closed life support systems in space. This includes, but not limited to, crop production, animal production, and microbial based waste recycling for food, atmosphere revitalization, and crew waste and water recycling. BLSS works in concert with physicochemical life support systems to provide Dissimilar System Redundancy and extend operational life of hardware as well as capitalizing on ISRU opportunities. Photos Courtesy of NASA

37 For our academic purposes, if BLSS is included, it will need to be highly integrated into any future Lunar/Mars habitat design as one of its dissimilar redundant life support systems. This was the main driver for our Lunar/Mars habitat design, we had to know what the habitat looked like before designing a BLSS greenhouse for it. The habitat design in turn was dictated by the Lunar/Mars surface environment and the challenges that needed to be overcome. UA-CEAC/SMC Lunar Habitat Design Copyright UA

38 A/ecnartnE M le cycer- oi Mbu esuohneer G el ) SPC kcol ri udo (S srotc le udo lel ocral B H o S esuohneer G g in htreb spohs/serot S gni D kco revor The LGH effort continues at the University of Arizona with our partners and funding from NASA s Ralph Steckler Space Grant. We are adding 3 additional LGH units and working on our NASA Outreach efforts with possibly the UA Biosphere2 Group

40 Finally, our South Pole Food Growth Chamber enters its 10 th season in operation at the NSF s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station Thank You!

41 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Controlled Environment Agriculture Center Systems and Industrial Engineering Tucson, AZ Sadler Machine Co. Special thanks to; NASA s Ralph Steckler Space Grant University of Arizona Space Grant Consortium Our friends at Aero-Sekur and Thales Alenia Space-Italia, et.al. NASA Photo

Mars-Lunar Greenhouse (M-LGH) at the University of Arizona: Status and Path Forward

Mars-Lunar Greenhouse (M-LGH) at the University of Arizona: Status and Path Forward Dr. Roberto Furfaro, SIE/AME Dr. Gene Giacomelli, CEAC Mr. Phil Sadler, SadlerMachine Co. Dr. Tim Swindle, LPL Ralph