The road to Mars is long and the time astronauts often spend in cramped conditions in orbit is long. The Viennese space architecture platform Liquifer, in collaboration with partners, has developed a concept for a habitat called “Airbus LOOP” together with the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which should enable space travelers to stay in space in reasonably livable conditions for the long term. Before that, however, people still think in the direction of the moon.
The Liquifer team led by Barbara Imhof, Waltraut Hoheneder and René Waclavicek invented a small space habitat about ten years ago with the “Self-deployable Habitat for Extreme Environments – SHEE” and was part of the EU project “EDEN ISS ” was involved in the development and operation of a greenhouse for and in Antarctica. Now you think much bigger.
Orientation on Musk’s Mega Rocket
While “SHEE” still had a slim diameter of six meters and a ceiling height of two meters, “Airbus LOOP” is based on the capabilities of the largest rocket system ever built “Starship” by the American space company SpaceX, explains René Waclavicek. A cargo module with a diameter of eight meters and the same height is sufficient. So here you create three floors, each with a larger usable surface. Another decisive factor is that the “Starship” will soon be able to carry up to 100 tons per flight into space.
First, “LOOP” could be used in orbit, for example when the International Space Station is mothballed, but later a flight to Mars could also be considered. In the center of the cylinder is a greenhouse that extends over the top two floors. At the top is the “Habitation Level” – i.e. the living space. Here you will find the private cabins, a lounge, washing facilities and the galley. The table is practically built into the conservatory. Also on the top floor is a large viewing window and exercise equipment that the astronauts can use to combat muscle atrophy in weightlessness.
Here in the video – This is how the habitat is set up for future space flights:
The laboratories are on the floor below. The individual experiments are arranged in modules there, just like on the ISS. An airlock is also being considered, which would allow scientific structures to be moved to a special platform in space. “But that’s all exemplary,” Waclavicek stressed. The structure can be adapted to all customer requirements – “this allows for the modular character”, which was developed together with Airbus, the Belgian company Space Application Services and the French company Spartan Space.
Fight against cosmic rays and muscle wasting
On the third floor is a centrifuge that simulates gravity. Indeed, the main difficulty of long stays in space far from Earth’s protective magnetic field is the long weightlessness, in addition to shielding it from the cosmic rays and providing a virtually closed life support system. In order to counteract muscle loss even better in addition to active training, it is the intention that the astronauts spend time in the spinning centrifuge time after time.
In the case of a Mars mission, the astronauts should be fully operational and physically fit after a flight of several months immediately after landing, Imhof and Waclavicek said. The “Airbus LOOP” should therefore also be used to test such systems, which exist in almost every “science fiction” movie, but do not yet exist in orbit in real life.
Orbiting the moon soon?
According to Imhof, artificial gravity and radiation shielding are the subjects that still need to be researched the most. The goal is to gain new insights into the latter with the “GATEWAY Lunar Orbital Platform” as part of NASA’s comeback mission to the moon called “Artemis”. The “Gateway” is expected to orbit the Moon from the mid-2020s. When exactly it could go to Mars is open. According to Imhof, “Airbus LOOP” could be a step in that direction.
But before that, it’s all about the moon. Liquifer is also working on the ergonomics of the “international habitation module” (i-HAB) for “Gateway”. A model of this living and working unit is being tested on Earth. The goal here is to find out if future astronauts can actually get to all the major components that may need to be repaired and maintained in space, Waclavicek explains. The Viennese space architects are now “very close” to many such projects, Imhof said. In the future, the company based in Vienna and Bremen may also be able to build smaller cabins itself.
For Mars, you have to think bigger
In any case, the requirements for “i-HAB” and “Airbus LOOP” are different: compared to the cramped lunar module – which offers only four astronauts 48 cubic meters of space – the space of the possible Mars vehicle is almost eight times as large as big. The four planned astronauts would have completely different requirements here. Even if the team in the “LOOP” were to increase to eight in the near term on a change, each individual there would have more space than their peers in lunar orbit.
Source: Krone
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