Conceptual design of a habitation module for a deep space exploration mission

Abstract

The article deals with the conceptual design of a habitable module conceived for long-duration space exploration missions. The pressurized habitation module was specifically sized for a near-Earth asteroid mission, named ‘humAn Exploration mission to a Near Earth Asteroid’. This mission is conceived as an intermediate step before going to further destinations and aims at testing technologies necessary for reaching more challenging targets. In accordance to the mission objectives, the habitation module was devised as a reusable space infrastructure, suitable for different exploration scenarios with only minor changes in the architecture/design. This article describes the design process that, starting from the mission statement, was followed to define the objectives, the requirements and the architecture of the module in terms of system and subsystem configuration. In particular, the habitation module was designed to safely sustain the life of four astronauts, for a mission to a near-Earth asteroid lasting about 6 months. The main subsystems of the habitation module were sized in order to provide the astronauts with the needed resources, support the activities during all operational phases, including the extra-vehicular activities on the asteroid’s surface and protect them against the external environment, with particular attention to space radiation, one of the most critical aspects of this kind of mission. In this regard, appropriate analyses were carried out for selecting the best shielding strategy. For the execution of the extra-vehicular activities on the asteroid surface, a dedicated airlock and specific extra-vehicular activity support tools were included. This article reports a detailed description of the subsystems and their innovative aspects. Starting from the mission phases and the related scenarios, different modes of operations were identified. System budgets were evaluated for the envisaged operational modes. This article illustrates both the applied methodologies and the results, highlighting the major criticalities to be faced (long exposure to space radiations, extra-vehicular activity operations on the asteroid surface) and the key technologies (radiation shielding, inflatable technology, extra-vehicular activity support tools).

A methodology for innovative technologies roadmaps assessment to support strategic decisions for future space exploration

“…The list of elements for each destination derived from the detailed analysis of the concepts of operations for the various missions of the reference scenario (please refer to [8] to understand how the missions architectures have been derived). The definition of the elements was done taking as reference ESA and NASA studies [9,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34].…”

“…The assessment of the "applicability" was performed by considering some reference designs [9,26,27,28,29,30,31] or some assumed requirements for the elements. This is particularly true for the required technologies, while the applicable, demo and not applicable technologies mainly relied on evaluations of similar elements or on considerations about the environment and the type of module (e.g.…”

Mechanical model of a special wheel with metal mesh surface based on modifying stress in manned lunar exploration

“…Hence, the manned lunar exploration is an inevitable trend of long-duration space exploration missions. 7 Furthermore, the Moon will be the first station to improve exploring the Mars and other planets, and accomplishing Mars exploration. 8,9…”

“…Hence, the manned lunar exploration is an inevitable trend of long-duration space exploration missions. 7 Furthermore, the Moon will be the first station to improve exploring the Mars and other planets, and accomplishing Mars exploration. 8,9 Lunar roving vehicle (LRV) is an important and indispensable detection tool that can travel far from the lunar module and transport astronauts to complete a variety of detection mission more efficiently.…”

Thermal Distortion Analysis of Inflatable Antenna Structures Considering Inflation Gas

“…For other types of inflatable structures, such as inflatable antenna reflectors (Freeland et al 1996;Freeland et al 1997) and lunar habitats (Di Capua et al 2011;Viscio et al 2013), the inflation gas in the internal chamber will be kept during service. Therefore, the effect of the residual gas must be considered for thermal deformation analysis.…”