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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Surface Habitat Concept Design

An initial Mars Surface Habitat (MSH) concept design study was conducted as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Habitation Systems Development Office’s effort to inform NASA crewed Mars architecture decisions. The study assessed the unique challenges, risks, and benefits of a surface habitation element within the Mars architecture trade space. The goal of the study was to identify unique functional capabilities necessary to support a crewed mission on the Martian surface, the unique challenges and risks associated with such an architecture, and the areas of further analysis required to make such a mission possible. Continuing NASA’s development and execution of the Moon to Mars lunar surface missions, attention will continue progressing toward the initial crewed Mars mission. To prepare for this, NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) has established a strategic analysis cycle (SAC) where an architectural trade space is identified and evaluated. Given that the Mars architecture and mission profile are still in this trade space, the architecture and mission considered for this study is SAC21. In addition, reference conceptual designs are being refined for the Mars Transit Habitat (TH) and MSH systems which will enable crew to safely travel to and inhabit the surface of Mars. The NASA Mars architectures trade space includes the use of a Pressurized Rover (PR) to address both crew habitation and mobility needs. This study assesses the use of a dedicated habitat via the MSH and an unpressurized terrain vehicle for crew mobility and exploration in lieu of the PR. Determining the optimum mission architecture will require continued analysis by ESDMD teams and this study is intended to support of such a study. The MSH concept design team aims to explore this area of the Mars habitation trade space, and in doing so, inform and highlight the considerations associated with a MSH in the surface architecture. It is not the intention of this study to make specific habitation or architecture decisions, but instead to provide a habitation element concept compatible with the Mars architecture trade space.

Mars Surface Habitat↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mars Surface Habitat (MSH) Concept Design

An initial Mars Surface Habitat (MSH) concept design study was conducted as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Habitation Systems Development Office’s effort to inform NASA crewed Mars architecture decisions. The study assessed the unique challenges, risks, and benefits of a surface habitation element within the Mars architecture trade space. The goal of the study was to identify unique functional capabilities necessary to support a crewed mission on the Martian surface, the unique challenges and risks associated with such an architecture, and the areas of further analysis required to make such a mission possible. Continuing NASA’s development and execution of the Moon to Mars lunar surface missions, attention will continue progressing toward the initial crewed Mars mission. To prepare for this, NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) has established a strategic analysis cycle (SAC) where an architectural trade space is identified and evaluated. Given that the Mars architecture and mission profile are still in this trade space, the architecture and mission considered for this study is SAC21. In addition, reference conceptual designs are being refined for the Mars Transit Habitat (TH) and MSH systems which will enable crew to safely travel to and inhabit the surface of Mars. The NASA Mars architectures trade space includes the use of a Pressurized Rover (PR) to address both crew habitation and mobility needs. This study assesses the use of a dedicated habitat via the MSH and an unpressurized terrain vehicle for crew mobility and exploration in lieu of the PR. Determining the optimum mission architecture will require continued analysis by ESDMD teams and this study is intended to support of such a study. The MSH concept design team aims to explore this area of the Mars habitation trade space, and in doing so, inform and highlight the considerations associated with a MSH in the surface architecture. It is not the intention of this study to make specific habitation or architecture decisions, but instead to provide a habitation element concept compatible with the Mars architecture trade space.

Ryan Hughes↗
NASA NTRS2018

Advantages of a Modular Mars Surface Habitat Approach

Early crewed Mars mission concepts developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) assumed a single, large habitat would house six crew members for a 500-day Mars surface stay. At the end of the first mission, all surface equipment, including the habitat, -would be abandoned and the process would be repeated at a different Martian landing site. This work was documented in a series of NASA publications culminating with the Mars Design Reference Mission 5.0 (NASA-SP-2009-566). The Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) explored whether re-using surface equipment at a single landing site could be more affordable than the Apollo-style explore-abandon-repeat mission cadence. Initial EMC assumptions preserved the single, monolithic habitat, the only difference being a new requirement to reuse the surface habitat for multiple expedition crews. A trade study comparing a single large habitat versus smaller, modular habitats leaned towards the monolithic approach as more mass-efficient. More recent work has focused on the operational aspects of building up Mars surface infrastructure over multiple missions, and has identified compelling advantages of the modular approach that should be considered before making a final decision. This paper explores Mars surface mission operational concepts and integrated system analysis, and presents an argument for the modular habitat approach.

Rucker, Michelle A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Advantages of a Modular Mars Surface Habitat Approach

Early crewed Mars mission concepts developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) assumed a single, large habitat would house six crew members for a 500-day Mars surface stay. At the end of the first mission, all surface equipment?including the habitat--would be abandoned and the process would be repeated at a different Martian landing site. This work was documented in a series of NASA publications culminating with the Mars Design Reference Mission 5.0 (NASA-SP-2009-566). The Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) explored whether re-using surface equipment at a single landing site could be more affordable than the Apollo-style explore-abandon-repeat mission cadence. Initial EMC assumptions preserved the single, monolithic habitat?the only difference being a new requirement to reuse the surface habitat for multiple expedition crews. A trade study comparing a single large habitat versus smaller, modular habitats leaned towards the monolithic approach as more mass-efficient. More recent work has focused on the operational aspects of building up Mars surface infrastructure over multiple missions, and has identified compelling advantages of the modular approach that should be considered before making a final decision. This paper explores Mars surface mission operational concepts and integrated system analysis, and presents an argument for the modular habitat approach.

Rucker, Michelle↗
NASA NTRS2018

Advantages of a Modular Mars Surface Habitat Approach

Early crewed Mars mission concepts developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) assumed a single, large habitat would house six crew members for a 500-day Mars surface stay. At the end of the first mission, all surface equipment-including the habitat-would be abandoned and the process would be repeated at a different Martian landing site. This work was documented in a series of NASA publications culminating with the Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0. More recent work, dubbed the Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC), explored whether re-using surface equipment at a single landing site could be more affordable than the Apollo-style explore-abandon-repeat mission cadence. Initial EMC assumptions preserved the single, monolithic habitat-the only difference being a new requirement to reuse the surface habitat for multiple expedition crews. A trade study comparing a single large habitat versus smaller, modular habitats leaned towards the monolithic approach as more mass-efficient. More recent work has focused on the operational aspects of building up Mars surface infrastructure over multiple missions, and has identified compelling advantages of a modular approach that should be considered before making a final decision. This paper explores Mars surface mission operational concepts and integrated system analysis, and presents an argument for the modular habitat approach.

Rucker, Michelle A.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA's Habitation Development Status: Current Concepts and ISRU Opportunities

Introduction: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a bold journey to return humankind to the Moon and onward to Mars with innovative commercial, international, and academic partnerships. Under the Artemis series of missions, NASA seeks to establish sustained human exploration of deep space through an objectives-based approach. This approach drives the identification of needed system functionality and the current and future capabilities which will eventually allow humanity to sustainably live beyond Earth. Providing evolvable and scalable habitation is a cornerstone function that calls for the collection and integration of current, developmental, and future technologies that can meet near-term exploration needs while growing into long-term sustained presence. NASA is advancing in-space habitation through its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) model while designing lunar, Mars transit, and Mars surface habitat government reference concepts for Artemis missions. These efforts have unveiled possible near-term opportunities for the in-space resource utilization community if human habitation is considered a future customer of space resources. NextSTEP Habitation Development: NASA is closely working with commercial partners under its NextSTEP Appendix A model to advance habitation systems in the arena of inflatable and composite habitation structures. Such efforts promise efficiencies in volumetric packaging and overall spacecraft mass respectively. Recent testing by commercial partners have helped to quantify possible failure mechanisms for inflatable structures while advancing their technology towards eventual flight certification. The advancement of such Class II habitation structures, in which the habitat is only fully deployed once in-space or on a planetary surface, is critical to providing increased habitable volume for long-duration missions with no additional mass penalties. The progression of such technology is infused into NASA’s government reference concepts for notional deep space habitation concepts. Current Government Reference Concepts: To best inform the formulation of future collaborative solicitations, NASA employs the practice of internally developing reference concepts for future exploration elements. These concepts aid in identifying the functions and capabilities needed to complete NASA missions as well as feasible solutions within the timeframe needed. Government reference concepts for a lunar Surface Habitat, Mars Transit Habitat, and Mars Sur-face Habitat are continuously being developed and updated to better guide the Agency’s overall exploration architecture. Lunar Surface Habitat. As NASA returns to the Moon, it is evaluating possible lunar surface habitation concepts. The Surface Habitat (SH) reference concept entails a hybrid metallic-inflatable structure capable of initially housing two crew for surface stays of up to 30 days in duration. While initial missions may span ~7 days in duration, consideration is being given to expanding SH’s capability to support a crew of four for up to 60 days over its 15-year design life. Functionally, the SH serves as a ‘hub’ for all Artemis crewed surface operations, providing internal volume for maintenance, medical, logistics, science utilization, and extravehicular activity (EVA) support in addition to core habitation functionality such as environmental control and life support (ECLS) and power generation and distribution among many others. Additionally, NASA has entered a study agreement with the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana – ASI) to investigation a possible Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH) as an additional or augmenting habit-able element for the lunar surface. Mars Transit Habitat. NASA’s current architectural concept for initial human missions to Mars entails the utilization of a transit habitat (TH) to transport a four-person crew to and from Mars orbit, departing from and returning to a lunar near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), over the course of a ~1,200-day mission. While holding a similar 15-year design lifetime, TH will also support a series of analog mission activities in NRHO to gradually test the systems and interaction with lunar surface elements, some of which may be adapted for Mars surface exploration. Holding similar functional capabilities as SH, TH is sized to support much longer durations in space and greater logistical independence. Mars Surface Habitat. NASA is still exploring the concept of operations for initial crewed missions to Mars. As such, the Mars Surface Habitat (MSH) concept is still in its infancy as options for mobile, pressurized habitation and stationary habitats are being explored. It is expected MSH will leverage heavily from the lunar SH and possible lunar pressurized rover, however the very different Martian environment will likely necessitate modifications. ISRU Opportunities: Despite the advancements under NASA’s NextSTEP habitation work and continually optimized reference concepts, NASA is facing near-term mass and power challenges that may create opportunities to the ISRU community by providing yet another possible customer for space resources. While NASA desires to use regenerative ECLS systems (ECLSS) for all habitation concepts, their operation comes with initial mass penalties and maintenance overheads when compared to simpler open-loop architectures. Because of this, NASA is currently pro-posing an open-loop, consumables-based architecture for its surface habitats to achieve initial launch and delivery lander mass targets while scarring for the in-corporation of regenerative ECLSS to meet longer mission durations and sustained presence. With such an architecture, oxygen and potable water are needed consumables, which initial ISRU systems may be able to provide in a pilot capacity. Although the TH is expecting to utilize regenerative ECLSS, advancements in lunar surface-based ISRU and possible re-supply of spacecraft in lunar or Mars orbit could significantly reduce the logistical need for ECLSS related spares on TH and possibly allow a similar open-loop and consumables-based architecture. In addition to ECLSS mass concerns, the SH is facing challenges with energy storage to support operations over periods of darkness exceeding 100 hours. Both battery and fuel cell-based power architectures are being traded, opening options for external power generation and energy storage. One possibility is ISRU-produced H2 and O2 feeding external primary fuel cell systems which could supplement habitation power generation while reducing initial mass and volume until much more powerful fission power systems might be deployed. Conclusion: Significant advancements are being made in evolvable habitation concepts that span from near-term technologies, such as inflatable structures under NextSTEP, to potentially revolutionary capabilities like the lunar surface construction as funded through the Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technologies (MMPACT) project. As NASA investigates both heritage capabilities and rap-idly advancing, disruptive technologies, there are likely many near-term opportunities for initial ISRU capabilities to significantly aid human habitation and increase self-sufficiency beyond Earth.

habitation↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA's Habitation Development Status: Current Concepts and ISRU Opportunities

Introduction: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a bold journey to return humankind to the Moon and onward to Mars with innovative commercial, international, and academic partnerships [1]. Under the Artemis series of missions, NASA seeks to establish sustained human exploration of deep space through an objectives-based approach [2]. This approach drives the identification of needed system functionality and the current and future capabilities which will eventually allow humanity to sustainably live beyond Earth. Providing evolvable and scalable habitation is a cornerstone function that calls for the collection and integration of current, developmental, and future technologies that can meet near-term exploration needs while growing into long-term sustained presence. NASA is advancing in-space habitation through its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) model while designing lunar, Mars transit, and Mars surface habitat government reference concepts for Artemis missions. These efforts have unveiled possible near-term opportunities for the in-space resource utilization community if human habitation is considered a future customer of space resources. NextSTEP Habitation Development: NASA is closely working with commercial partners under its NextSTEP Appendix A model to advance habitation systems in the arena of inflatable and composite habitation structures. Such efforts promise efficiencies in volumetric packaging and overall spacecraft mass respectively. Recent testing by commercial partners have helped to quantify possible failure mechanisms for inflatable structures while advancing their technology towards eventual flight certification. The advancement of such Class II habitation structures, in which the habitat is only fully deployed once in-space or on a planetary surface [3], is critical to providing increased habitable volume for long-duration missions with no additional mass penalties. The progression of such technology is infused into NASA’s government reference concepts for notional deep space habitation concepts. Current Government Reference Concepts: To best inform the formulation of future collaborative solicitations, NASA employs the practice of internally developing reference concepts for future exploration elements. These concepts aid in identifying the functions and capabilities needed to complete NASA missions as well as feasible solutions within the timeframe needed. Government reference concepts for a lunar Surface Habitat, Mars Transit Habitat, and Mars Sur-face Habitat are continuously being developed and updated to better guide the Agency’s overall exploration architecture. Lunar Surface Habitat. As NASA returns to the Moon, it is evaluating possible lunar surface habitation concepts. The Surface Habitat (SH) reference concept entails a hybrid metallic-inflatable structure capable of initially housing two crew for surface stays of up to 30 days in duration [4]. While initial missions may span ~7 days in duration, consideration is being given to expanding SH’s capability to support a crew of four for up to 60 days over its 15-year design life [5]. Functionally, the SH serves as a ‘hub’ for all Artemis crewed surface operations, providing internal volume for maintenance, medical, logistics, science utilization, and extravehicular activity (EVA) support in addition to core habitation functionality such as environmental control and life support (ECLS) and power generation and distribution among many others. Additionally, NASA has entered a study agreement with the Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana – ASI) to investigation a possible Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH) as an additional or augmenting habit-able element for the lunar surface [6]. Mars Transit Habitat. NASA’s current architectural concept for initial human missions to Mars entails the utilization of a transit habitat (TH) to transport a four-person crew to and from Mars orbit, departing from and returning to a lunar near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), over the course of a ~1,200-day mission [5]. While holding a similar 15-year design lifetime, TH will also support a series of analog mission activities in NRHO to gradually test the systems and interaction with lunar surface elements, some of which may be adapted for Mars surface exploration. Holding similar functional capabilities as SH, TH is sized to support much longer durations in space and greater logistical independence. Mars Surface Habitat. NASA is still exploring the concept of operations for initial crewed missions to Mars. As such, the Mars Surface Habitat (MSH) concept is still in its infancy as options for mobile, pressurized habitation and stationary habitats are being explored. It is expected MSH will leverage heavily from the lunar SH and possible lunar pressurized rover, however the very different Martian environment will likely necessitate modifications. ISRU Opportunities: Despite the advancements under NASA’s NextSTEP habitation work and continually optimized reference concepts, NASA is facing near-term mass and power challenges that may create opportunities to the ISRU community by providing yet another possible customer for space resources. While NASA desires to use regenerative ECLS systems (ECLSS) for all habitation concepts, their operation comes with initial mass penalties and maintenance overheads when compared to simpler open-loop architectures. Because of this, NASA is currently pro-posing an open-loop, consumables-based architecture for its surface habitats to achieve initial launch and delivery lander mass targets while scarring for the in-corporation of regenerative ECLSS to meet longer mission durations and sustained presence. With such an architecture, oxygen and potable water are needed consumables, which initial ISRU systems may be able to provide in a pilot capacity. Although the TH is expecting to utilize regenerative ECLSS, advancements in lunar surface-based ISRU and possible re-supply of spacecraft in lunar or Mars orbit could significantly reduce the logistical need for ECLSS related spares on TH and possibly allow a similar open-loop and consumables-based architecture. Table 1 Notional ECLSS consumables per mission use for SH and TH [5]. SH (28-day) Open Loop: Water (kg) 288 | Oxygen (kg) 30 TH (1110-day) Closed-Loop: Water (kg) 182 | Oxygen (kg) 123 In addition to ECLSS mass concerns, the SH is facing challenges with energy storage to support operations over periods of darkness exceeding 100 hours. Both battery and fuel cell-based power architectures are being traded, opening options for external power generation and energy storage. One possibility is ISRU-produced H2 and O2 feeding external primary fuel cell systems which could supplement habitation power generation while reducing initial mass and volume until much more powerful fission power systems might be deployed. Conclusion: Significant advancements are being made in evolvable habitation concepts that span from near-term technologies, such as inflatable structures under NextSTEP, to potentially revolutionary capabilities like the lunar surface construction as funded through the Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technologies (MMPACT) project [7]. As NASA investigates both heritage capabilities and rap-idly advancing, disruptive technologies, there are likely many near-term opportunities for initial ISRU capabilities to significantly aid human habitation and increase self-sufficiency beyond Earth.

habitation↗
NASA NTRS2018

Arog Dual Purpose Habitat

Vision and Mission Statement Commonality of design between a space transit habitat and Mars surface habitat has the potential to reduce mission cost and risk by reducing crew training and increasing efficiency on arrival. Using the diverse array of talent and expertise available at the University of Michigan, BLiSS will explore the concept of commonality on every level of the design. System Definition We will design a habitation system that will house a human crew on either the Martian surface or a deep space transit. The system will be designed with a high degree of commonality between the two configurations. The team will validate the design through analysis and the construction of full scale mockups.

Nilton De Oliveira Renno↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Notional Habitat Science Outfitting for a Lunar Surface Habitat or Mars Transit Habitat

Science outfitting is often given insufficient treatment in the development of early conceptual studies for lunar surface habitats. In some cases, only control masses and volumes are used as placeholders. In others, one science discipline may be given detailed treatment while others are largely ignored. It is not unheard of for science outfitting to be entirely forgotten in initial concept layouts. This is exacerbated by the reality that spacecraft design studies are often initiated long before science objectives have been established for any given human spaceflight destination. When those objectives later emerge, they can be difficult to accommodate if sizing studies did not allocate sufficient resources for them. A notional science outfitting can be created for virtually any human exploration habitat, however, utilizing data created by the International Space Station and Constellation programs. Biology, human research, physics, and geology science laboratories and a general-purpose work area for a lunar surface habitat will be derived using equipment identified by the Constellation-era Optimizing Science and Exploration Working Group (OSEWG) or flown on the International Space Station. Early science outfitting definition and inclusion in surface habitat sizing is critical for developing an exploration architecture that meets science needs. The mass, volume, power, and use cases associated with these notional laboratories impacts all of the habitat subsystems, habitat dimensions, hatch dimensions, logistics operations, launch vehicles and landers.

Lunar Habitat↗
NASA NTRS2026

Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor, a System for Water Quality Analysis on Exploration Missions Beyond Low Earth Orbit

Exploration missions beyond low-earth-orbit (LEO) will require advanced instrumentation to monitor water quality. Traveling beyond LEO means the transfer of water samples to an Earth-based laboratory for detailed analysis is not feasible. Detailed analysis of water composition during exploration is still necessary, because having the capability to determine the specific organic chemical causing a change in total organic carbon (TOC) or the specific metal or ionic species causing a change in conductivity has the potential to inform the crew health and system management decisions. On a new vehicle such as a lunar or Mars surface habitat or a Mars transit vehicle, finding “new” impurities not seen on ISS should be expected. The key is to identify the impurity so the correct action can be taken. On ISS we can measure TOC, conductivity, and other physical properties but do not have the capability for detailed analysis using vehicle instrumentation. This is acceptable because ISS can send samples down to Earth for further analysis and obtain the detailed composition. The Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor (SWIM) will provide detailed water quality analysis for missions in which sample down mass is not available. SWIM is a system comprising organic and inorganic analysis modules. For organic chemicals, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) detects and identifies organic impurities. For inorganic species, a capillary electrophoresis capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C4D) system as well as ion specific electrodes detect and identify metal ions and other inorganic salts / acids. The SWIM technology demonstration project has completed a System Requirements Review (SRR) to finalize detection requirements and is currently working to refine vehicle interface requirements for a future technology demonstration. The project also has begun preliminary flight design activities for the core analyzers in the instrument suite.

Water Monitoring↗
NASA NTRS2026

Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor, a System for Water Quality Analysis on Exploration Missions Beyond Low Earth Orbit

Exploration missions beyond low-earth-orbit (LEO) will require advanced instrumentation to monitor water quality. Traveling beyond LEO means the transfer of water samples to an Earth-based laboratory for detailed analysis is not feasible. Detailed analysis of water composition during exploration is still necessary, because having the capability to determine the specific organic chemical causing a change in total organic carbon (TOC) or the specific metal or ionic species causing a change in conductivity has the potential to inform the crew health and system management decisions. On a new vehicle such as a lunar or Mars surface habitat or a Mars transit vehicle, finding “new” impurities not seen on ISS should be expected. The key is to identify the impurity so the correct action can be taken. On ISS we can measure TOC, conductivity, and other physical properties but do not have the capability for detailed analysis using vehicle instrumentation. This is acceptable because ISS can send samples down to Earth for further analysis and obtain the detailed composition. The Spacecraft Water Impurity Monitor (SWIM) will provide detailed water quality analysis for missions in which sample down mass is not available. SWIM is a system comprising organic and inorganic analysis modules. For organic chemicals, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) detects and identifies organic impurities. For inorganic species, a capillary electrophoresis capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (CE-C4D) system as well as ion specific electrodes detect and identify metal ions and other inorganic salts / acids. The SWIM technology demonstration project has completed a System Requirements Review (SRR) to finalize detection requirements and is currently working to refine vehicle interface requirements for a future technology demonstration. The project also has begun preliminary flight design activities for the core analyzers in the instrument suite.

Water Monitoring↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Options for Offloading a 90-Ton Common Habitat from its Lander on the Surface of Mars

The Common Habitat is a large, long-duration habitat being explored as part of a conceptual study (not an active NASA program) that uses an SLS core stage liquid oxygen (LOX) tank as its primary structure. Measuring 8.4 meters in diameter and 15.6 meters in length, it is manufactured as a habitat and launched as such into space. It is intended for use on the Moon as part of a permanently occupied outpost, on Mars as part of an outpost that will be occupied for hundreds of days at a time, and in deep space as part of the Deep Space Exploration Vehicle where it will support crewed missions up to 1200 days in duration. A study of internal orientation and crew size resulted in a Common Habitat configuration sized for a crew of eight with a three-deck horizontal orientation. There are obvious challenges associated with the delivery of such a large habitat, which may mass as much as 90-tons when initially deployed. The Mars destination in particular imposes extreme challenges due to Martian gravity. This paper identifies initial options for the offloading of a 90-ton Common Habitat from a lander spacecraft on the surface of Mars. On Mars, the Common Habitat is part of a surface outpost where a Habitation Zone includes the Common Habitat docked to a two-chamber airlock node, up to two logistics modules, and up to two pressurized rovers. It is connected by underground conduit to a radiator farm and communications tower assembly. These elements and other surface infrastructure, including robotic systems for surface preparation, are landed prior to the Common Habitat. In the baseline Common Habitat Architecture, the Common Habitat is delivered on the third heavy cargo flight. The Habitation Zone configuration dictates that the Common Habitat needs to be offloaded from the lander. All of the docked elements require direct access to the surface and the Common Habitat must actually be placed in a trench to lower its docking ports to be level with those of the mated elements. Additionally, the habitat must be emplaced in a horizontal configuration, while for any conceivable Earth launch system it must be launched in a vertical configuration. It is true that the Common Habitat must be offloaded from its lander on both the Moon and Mars and a common offloading system must therefore work in both destinations. Mars, however, is considered the driving case for offloading in most, but not all, aspects. A four-day internal study in 2021 recommended that a modified Starship be used to land the Common Habitat on Mars and considered multiple approaches to offload the Common Habitat from the payload section and lower it to the surface. The topic was presented at a public hackathon organized by the Johnson Space Center’s Emerge Employee Resource Group. One team took on the challenge and proposed a concept in some ways similar to the previously considered jib crane. Despite the excellent innovation in the team’s work, a number of study refinements are necessary to truly establish feasibility. These and other future work needed to mature the concept are discussed in this work.

Lander Offloading↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Common Habitat Base Camp for Moon and Mars Surface Operations

The Common Habitat uses the SLS Core Stage Liquid Oxygen tank as the primary structure (similar to Skylab) and has an internal architecture compatible with microgravity, lunar gravity, and Mars gravity, such that identical versions of the same design can be used in all three environments. Applying the large dimensions and eight-person crew size of the Common Habitat to a surface architecture leads to a unique base camp configuration. A notional such base camp is described in this analysis. The base camp includes four distributed zones – habitation, landing, power, and resource production. The base camp is deployed and assembled in three phases: site preparation, element staging, and habitat delivery, each of which are briefly discussed. Crew arrival and departure is discussed, including variations caused by orbital mechanics-induced differences between the Moon and Mars base camps. Trash and logistics operations are described. Finally, crew operations within the base camp are described.

Lunar Outpost↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Moon to Mars (M2M) Transit Habitat (TH) Refinement Point of Departure (PoD) Design

As NASA prepares for the next human footsteps on the lunar surface, the Agency is already looking ahead to systems that will enable a sustained human presence on the lunar surface and mission to Mars, including a lunar Surface Habitat and Mars Transit Habitat (TH). This paper describes the latest NASA government reference design for the TH and how it will support NASA's Moon to Mars human exploration architecture. First, it will serve as a test and demonstration platform in lunar orbit, demonstrating capabilities required for long-duration microgravity human spaceflight as part of the lunar-Mars analog missions. Then, the TH will also serve as a major Mars habitation exploration element to support the crew during their transit from the lunar orbit to Mars and returning them safely to lunar orbit. This paper will cover several considerations contributing to the latest habitat design refinement, including data on the TH's concept of operations, system functional definition, subsystem assumptions, notional interior layouts, a detailed mass and volume breakdown, and trade studies and analyses required to close identified technology/ development/architecture gaps. In addition to a technical description of the TH, this paper describes how the current TH government reference design will achieve many of the current lunar and Mars mission goals. Additionally, there are many assumed technological advances needed to support the prescribed mission phases leading up to the crewed mission to Mars in the late 2030s. The paper will describe many of the TH systems requiring further technology development and identify architectural solutions to achieve these mass, reliability, autonomy, and crew health targets. As a whole, the data in the paper shows that a TH meeting the 43 metric tons launch mass/trans-Mars injection burn limits specified by the Evolvable Mars Campaign is achievable near the desired timeframe with moderate strategic investments including maintainable life support systems, re-purposable structures and packaging, and lightweight exercise modalities. It also identifies operational and technological options to reduce this mass to less than 41 metric tons, including staging of launch structure/packaging and alternate structural materials. The resulting design detail and data contained in this paper are intended to help teams across NASA and potential commercial, academic, or international partners understand the current performance targets of the Transit Habitat and vehicle interface considerations imposed by the latest Moon to Mars mission scope.

Habitation Systems↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) System Options for Mars Transit and Mars Surface Missions

The NASA led Artemis campaign will take humanity back to the Moon and serve as an analog for continued deep space exploration to Mars. Artemis utilizes crewed vehicles and habitats on both the Lunar surface and in Lunar orbit. The exploration of the Lunar surface and buildup of a basecamp is meant to be a “Mars forward” approach to testing and refining new technologies and techniques for living and working far outside of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and preparing for future Mars missions. The Lunar Surface Habitat is planned as a primary element for long duration crew habitation on the Moon and will be the primary testbed for ECLS system hardware in a partial gravity environment. The Mars Transit Habitat will be the crew vehicle for the roundtrip from Earth to Mars and spend a significant amount of time docked to the Gateway outfitting and testing its systems prior to making the first Mars mission transit. The Mars Transit Habitat will utilize closed loop ECLS system technologies while a Mars Surface Habitat could use either open loop, closed loop, or a mix of both. Better understanding the needs of both these system architectures operating for extended periods in the Lunar environment and outside LEO will help to establish the ECLS system architecture for the future Mars surface mission. There are many aspects to consider such as length of crew stay, level of autonomy and dormancy between crewed missions, power requirements, system mass, and overall system reliability and maintainability. Other considerations will include Mars gravity vs. Lunar gravity, Mars atmospheric pressure vs. hard vacuum, and possible use of in-situ resource utilization.

ECLSS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) System Options for Mars Transit and Mars Surface Missions

The NASA led Artemis campaign will take humanity back to the Moon and serve as an analog for continued deep space exploration to Mars. Artemis utilizes crewed vehicles and habitats on both the Lunar surface and in Lunar orbit. The exploration of the Lunar surface and buildup of a basecamp is meant to be a “Mars forward” approach to testing and refining new technologies and techniques for living and working far outside of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and preparing for future Mars missions. The Lunar Surface Habitat is planned as a primary element for long duration crew habitation on the Moon and will be the primary testbed for ECLS system hardware in a partial gravity environment. The Mars Transit Habitat will be the crew vehicle for the roundtrip from Earth to Mars and spend a significant amount of time docked to the Gateway outfitting and testing its systems prior to making the first Mars mission transit. The Mars Transit Habitat will utilize closed loop ECLS system technologies while a Mars Surface Habitat could use either open loop, closed loop, or a mix of both. Better understanding the needs of both these system architectures operating for extended periods in the Lunar environment and outside LEO will help to establish the ECLS system architecture for the future Mars surface mission. There are many aspects to consider such as length of crew stay, level of autonomy and dormancy between crewed missions, power requirements, system mass, and overall system reliability and maintainability. Other considerations will include Mars gravity vs. Lunar gravity, Mars atmospheric pressure vs. hard vacuum, and possible use of in-situ resource utilization.

ECLSS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Moon to Mars (M2M) Transit Habitat Refinement Point of Departure Design

As NASA prepares for the next human footsteps on the lunar surface, the Agency is already looking ahead to systems that will enable a sustained human presence on the lunar surface and mission to Mars, including a lunar Surface Habitat (SH) and Mars Transit Habitat (TH). This paper describes the latest NASA government reference design for the TH and how it will support NASA's Moon to Mars human exploration architecture. First, it will serve as a test and demonstration platform in lunar orbit, demonstrating capabilities required for long-duration microgravity human spaceflight as part of the lunar-Mars analog missions. Then, the TH will serve as a major Mars exploration element to support crew habitation during their transit from the Earth’s orbit to Mars and returning safely before TH’s return to a lunar orbit. This paper will cover several considerations contributing to the latest habitat design refinement, including the TH's concept of operations, system functional definition, subsystem assumptions, notional interior layouts, a detailed mass and volume breakdown, and identify future trade studies and analyses required to close identified technology/ development/architecture gaps. In addition to a technical description of the TH, this paper describes how the current TH government reference design will achieve many of the current lunar and Mars mission goals. Additionally, there are many assumed technological advances needed to support the prescribed mission phases leading up to the crewed mission to Mars in the late 2030s. The paper will describe many of the TH systems requiring further technology development and identify architectural solutions to achieve these mass, reliability, autonomy, and crew health targets. As a whole, the data shows the government reference TH design meeting the 26.4 metric ton launch /trans-Mars injection burn control mass limit outlined within NASA’s Moon to Mars Campaign. This is achievable near the desired timeframe with moderate strategic investments including maintainable life support systems, innovative structures configuration and materials, and system/ logistics packaging. The resulting design detail and data contained in this paper are intended to help teams across NASA and potential commercial, academic, or international partners understand the current performance targets of the Transit Habitat and vehicle interface considerations imposed by the latest Moon to Mars mission scope.

Habitation Systems↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Inflatable Softgoods Testing Capability Development for Habitation

The Habitation Systems Development Office (HP40) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center supports systems engineering, integration, and project management for next generation space habitats. The office is responsible for formulation activities for Lunar Surface Habitat and Mars Transit Habitat. HP40 also manages commercial partnerships for exploration habitat development. The Lunar Surface Habitat is intended to initially support a minimum of two crew on the lunar surface for an approximately 30-day mission, with the ability to accommodate four crew for short durations. The Mars Transit Habitat will transport four crew to and from Mars orbit on a potentially 1,200 day mission. Both concepts are envisioned to leverage inflatable softgoods as the primary structural material for the habitation portion of the architecture. Inflatable softgoods are a complex, multi-material system consisting of multiple layers which perform specific functions. A bladder layer (polymer) contains the habitat’s atmosphere. The bladder is indexed to a woven restraint layer, usually Kevlar or Vectran, which serves as the structural layer. The remaining outer layers are for micro-meteoroid orbital debris (MMOD) shielding, protection from atomic Oxygen (if the material system is to be deployed in low earth orbit), and thermal insulation. The primary advantage of inflatable softgoods is that they can offer a larger volume per unit mass relative to a rigid metal structure. Inflatable softgoods have a strong development heritage within NASA, beginning with work in the 1960s in partnership with Goodyear Aerospace and continuing with Johnson Space Center’s TransHab project in the 1990s . Some development efforts subsequently transitioned into the private sector to mature the material technology for flight applications, including human habitation. In August 2022, NASA published its guidelines for certification of crewed inflatable softgoods structures (JSC-67721). This document outlines a series of tests which will be needed to certify inflatable softgoods material systems for use in crewed mission applications. It includes burst testing at the subscale and full-scale to determine the ultimate burst pressure of the softgoods architecture. Creep (long term deformation of the material under stress) is a key failure mode which must be characterized. Creep testing at the component and module levels is also recommended to generate time to failure curves and verify that the inflatable system has a predicted operational life which exceeds mission parameters. ET (Test Engineering) at MSFC and HP40 have worked together to establish softgoods testing capabilities for the center. This includes the ability to conduct module level burst tests and creep tests. The poster will highlight these capabilities and provide examples of testing which has been performed to date by ET. NASA MSFC anticipates that these test capabilities will continue to offer critical support for companies pursuing inflatable softgoods for exploration applications (lunar surface habitation, Mars transit) as well as commercial low earth orbit platforms.

habitation↗