RISD X NASA

Our objective: to design a lunar surface habitat to support 4 crew members for a 30-day mission on the lunar south pole. This design should prioritize human well-being while being functional and feasible.

 

Team

Elena Bremner, Jillian Cai, Lily Douglas, Theo Golstein, Yolanda He, Austen Li and Abel Yan 

Type

Collaboration studio course with NASA

My Role

Designed biomedical science and medical emergency areas

Duration

Feb to May 2020

 

Design Brief

to design a lunar surface habitat to support 4 crew members for a 30-day mission on the lunar south pole. This design should prioritize human well-being while being functional and feasible. The habitat would launch in a Falcon Heavy rocket. For this reason, it is contained within a cylindrical module with an interior volume  of 4.4 meters by 7 meters. 

Lunar Surface

4 Crew Members

30-day

 
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Habitat Layout

Through multiple iterations of hab layouts, we identified a split-level design that creates privacy and separates work and leisure.

This is achieved by dividing the hab into spaces for communal activities and private spaces for lab work or relaxation. In doing so, astronauts can experience a sense of change throughout their daily life despite the size of the hab.

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Crew Members

I assigned different body types to four hypothetical crew members: at the 99th and 5th percentiles for men and 95th and 5th percentiles for women. One of the challenges for this project is to consider body differences and ergonomics.

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The Galley

The galley not only serves as a place for astronauts to prepare and eat their meals, but also serves as a recreational space for any crew member to relax and relieve stress accumulated from working.

 
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The bench features a flat top with seat cushioning that is dedicated to providing astronauts with a place to relax and look out the window.

Right beneath the bench, there are two deployable chairs. These chairs, combined with the bench, are designed to accommodate all four of the crew members on board the habitat.

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Science

This science suite is intended to accommodate geological, botanical, and temperature-sensitive experiments. It is located directly across from the galley on the starboard side of the hab.

 
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EXPRESS Racks capability allows a range of devices and science setups to be installed. 

Glovebox and Micro Lockers allow geological studies and tool storage to be carried out safely away from the galley

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Biomedical Science

The bio and medical science area is used for biomedical experiments including work on samples collected on the surface of the moon.

 
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The bioscience area contains all the facilities for non-regolith experiments, a deployable laptop embedded into the rack and a monitor screen for real time data. 

The medical bay has medical kits for sample collection and portable systems for short and long term uses.

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Communications Deck

The communications deck is used for interacting with elements outside of the hab, including transmitters, receivers, lunar satellites, rovers, and EVA support.

 
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This station is used to monitor ECLSS and provide data & internet to the rest of the hab.

Multiple screens allow the rover pilot to keep track of various pieces of information while remaining immersed.

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Crew Quarters

Crew quarters are located on both the starboard and port sections of the hab. The CQs accommodate for crew members over 6 ft.

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The enclosed space allows crew members to have privacy and time to connect with family and friends.

Additional stowage is located in between the CQs. Crewmates can access food packages and other seldomly used resources.

 
 

How to research and prepare to design for space environment?

Knowing the basics of living in space, such as eating, sleeping, doing experiments, collecting bio samples, bathing, etc. Researching NASA’s current standards on equipment uses and measurements. Referencing the standards being used on the International Space Station and past years’ spacecrafts.

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Measuring and understanding human body differences in height, upper and lower reach, wing span, sitting height, etc. Preparing to design an environment that can accommodate four very different body types. For instance, two people with similar heights can vary differently in their wing spans or sitting heights.

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Building actual sitting / sleeping pod considering trade-off between human comfort and dimensions of the model. Every kilogram of weight adds monetary costs to carrying the pod into space.

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How to design an environment that not only supports the mission but also empowers the team?

Since the goal of this course is not to strictly follow NASA’s current standards and designs, we explored a more creative and user centered vision, prioritizing astronauts’ psychological and physical comfort.

My Initial Sketch

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Iteration Process

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Fifth-scale Model

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0.9 m x 1.4 m

Takeaways

 

A systematic consideration of user experience as a whole, whether the format is physical. digital or combined. Always think about the user, goal and use cases.

The ability to quickly get into a complicated field. Designing for space experience requires heavy research on technical standards, human body differences and real experiments on living in a compact space.