We're Sebastian & Karl - two Space Architects. We're here to talk about our unfolding Moon Habitat that we will test for 3 months in isolation in the Arctic this fall - Ask us anything!

How will your habitat protect the inhabitants from solar radiation?

Radiation is always a threat in space. Both from background radiation and in bursts from sources such as the sun. While a requirement for any sustained pressence on the Moon is to have a shelter that is covered under lunar regolith, our Habitat is designed for the earlier phase of humans returning to the Moon as a "short-term" shelter for research and exploration missions similar to NASA's upcomming Artemis misisons in this decade.

A great solution to this is ice http://www.uncubemagazine.com/blog/16245753

We love that project. It was a great inspiration.

The biggest challenge with origami style structures to me seems to be the hinges/joints and ensuring they work the one and only time they are ever used. How big a problem is that in reality?

The problem we solve with origami is the limited volume of a rocket (in our case a shipping container). Our habitat expands by 560%, we believe the extra size has tremendous effect on wellbeing. We have designed flexible seams (compliant joints) and not mechanical joints. Think of the flexible seam as a strong continues skin rather than a hinge.

For the self-isolation part, do you have any things on the inside "for entertaiment", if so which ones are they?

Similar to astronauts on the ISS, we're going to have a schedule booked with several activities, including research work, maintenance, and repairs on the Habitat, which will take up the majority of our time.

During our personal spare time we'll be able to use equipment such as laptops and reading tablets along with a large quantity of software, books, movies, games, and other digital material to keep us entertained during the mission.

On the more physical side of things, we've designed the primary living space with folding desks, so it can be converted to an open space where we can exercise and keep in shape.

Would you want to put some cross supports? Not so much as to add strength, but to allow for more use of vertical space and a fun jungle gym for exercise. With the reduced gravity- that would be a blast.

Yes, actually the Moon version of the Habitat will be taller (rockets are larger than a shipping container), and moving vertically on the Moon is much easier. For Greenland, we just have a pull-up bar. We thought about a hammock as well. We'll see.

Why in the arctic? You could achieve total isolation anywhere without having to deal with extreme weather. Also, there's no weather/atmosphere on the moon, so the "sturdiness" of the habitat to withstand the weather needs to be higher on earth, but essentially leads to the focus of resources/weight put into protection that's less needed in an alternate environment, i.e. wind and moisture protection on earth vs. Gamma ray and airtight habitat protection on the moon.

We chose the arctic very carefully exactly because of the hostile environment, sunlight, and isolation. We want to simulate the stress that real astronauts experience so we can study our countermeasures. We simulate a mission to the south pole of the Moon, which is almost sunlit. A polar site on Earth is the best fit. You are right about wind loads, not an easy challenge, but no way around it.

But aren't most studies of this sort done in "hot" deserts? For example: Biosphere 2.

That's one of the problems if you ask us. What happens if you leave without your space suit? not much. But in the arctic it's vital.

I kunne have taget den til Møn, der kommer aldrig nogle.

Ej.

Fedt projekt!

Det er ikke for sent ha!

When conducting these tests what problems are you hoping to identify? And how do you vet your participants for psychological stability?

Firstly, Karl-Johan and I are the only participants/crew.

We are primarily testing two things: the unfolding structure, and the psychological countermeasures, which we have developed. This includes a small vertical garden, an algae bioreactor, and an artificial sky inside the habitat, made of LED panels, where we will simulate a "normal" circadian rhythm.

One of the big challenges of space exploration is the monotony. We believe that changing stimulation is key, and therefore we are also simulating changing weather inside the hab. Some days will be cloudy and colder, some days will be warm with "sunlight".

However a big motivation is an open-ended question, what will we learn by going that we couldn't have known beforehand.

Oh, cool. Where can I find out more about this algae bioreactor?

We will publish more info about it once we have tested it! :)

This sounds awesome holy shit. Really hope you guys make it work.

Thanks, so do we!

How much did it cost, and how are you funded? How much say do the funders have in the work you're doing?

It's hard to say an exact dollar amount. It's a passion project and no one on the project is paid, everyone on the team is doing this because we love it <3 But probably somewhere between a nice car and a big house.

We are doing a crowdfunding campaign, which this project wouldn't be possible without. Furthermore, it's made possible by partnerships and sponsorships (which is a big logistical task in itself). Most materials, equipment, and transport are sponsored.Our architecture studio does smaller tasks on the side, to make sure we can pay rent, etc. We work a lot ;)

We are completely independent, none of the funders have any influence on what we are doing, but we are always open to suggestions. Right now we are running a poll to name the habitat for our Kickstarter backers. There are some great names so far :D

I'm assuming Moon Habitaty McMoon Habitatface has been suggested?

Not yet, but we assumed that would end up being the name lol

I understand the idea of testing the habitat yourselves to look for improvements and quality of life upgrades but your mindsets have nothing in common with an astronaut. You, as architects understand volumes, function and structure. An astronaut has been carefully chosen basen on mental and physical feats and has undergone tests and training most uf us wouldn't even dream of stepping into.

Why are you guys testing the habitat yourselves? Why during three month? Wouldn't a third party be able to give you more objective feedback by being unbiased?

Project looks great and the concept of origami is a fantastic approach, beet of lucks!

As u/Alistair_TheAlvarian points out quite succinctly, we indeed wish to design a living space that would enable the "average Joe" to live healthily and be able to carry out their work activities without the intense training astronauts undergo.

​

While we are designing and constructing the Habitat, most of our research experiments are planned in collaboration with researchers around the world, who are in charge of the specifics of each of their individual experiments, making us objective in that regard.

On the other hand, there has never been an architect to space, and people tend to see solutions to problems in the context of their own profession. By going ourselves and living through the whole experience, we are likely to gain a much more profound insight into solutions than otherwise. And finally, due to the dangerous nature of the mission, we feel obliged to take on the risk personally, until we have a proven and tested technology.

In what capacity does your Moon Habitat provide a sustainable food and water source?

We are not self-sustainable with food and water. We bring most of the food we eat. A small caloric amount will come from the small vertical garden and algae bioreactor, but that's more for the novelty of taste, connection with nature, and micronutrients.

We will get water by melting ice on site. We will have to be very efficient with both, using about 5% of an average citizen in Denmark.

Very cool. Are you melting ice just to bypass the logistical hassle of bringing water or does it have particular significance in context of the moon mission?

Yes, and storing water is difficult in the cold climate!

I never fully unserstood how someone can become like you. I mean, doesnt your profession require wildly different skillsets and knowledge? Dont you have to be maniacally careful with everything you do? How did you arrive at a point of being able of designing this, what is your backround and how did you get to design such things?

Great question thanks!
Our background is architecture with a passion for technology, then we did an intensive 9-week program at the Space University in Strasbourg. Our best answer is to just start, we are still figuring things out as we go. Then we try to find an expert to consult for each specific problem, and now we are becoming experts ourselves.

I'm an assistant architect and I'm curious about the conceptualization of this project, like how did you start going about this sort of research and design? Would honestly love to do this sort of project one day because I feel it actually creates an actual physical object which pushes the design of space in a way that intersects with science whether it works or fails.

First of all, let me start by saying that if you want to work with something, you should go for it!

Our design process is very much rooted in the problem we're trying to solve. We believe in the concept of tabula rasa, which translates to a "blank slate". In other words, we focus on the environment and problems we're designing for, and suspend all our preconceptions about how things are usually done.

That makes a whole lot of sense in the context of the space industry, which has a long set of rules and practices that have been developed through the decades of human space flight.

On a more practical note, we also strongly believe in using visualisations and making physical mockups (we love 3D printing). It both helps communicate the project much easier and in that process reveals flaws in the design that can be fixed and iterated on.

So what you're saying is that it's bigger on the inside? ;)

Am i missing a reference here?

Sorry to be a contrarian, but what is the point of this?

I don't see this as a contribution to any key milestones on the NASA Human Research Roadmap, nor does it appear to be contributing directly to the development of space fairing human habitats.

This is a funky shape with (hopefully) some insulation. It doesn't hold pressure, scrub co2, provide oxygen, not radiation protecting, etc. If your whole goal was to prove the folding structure capability, then your paper model on the website works just fine.

If you ask me, the real value you could add is with your psychological study, but I don't see much info or research on the engineering/design process, just some nice features you've randomly included. Proving two random dudes (average Joe's) can live in it means nothing unless there is some real data to extrapolate and corroborate results...

What does you flying this to the arctic and cramming yourselves inside it actually prove?

A much larger challenge is fitting the internal structure, beds, tables, ECLSS etc inside your folded structure. If you can't fit those inside the folded structure then you still need another flight/launch to bring them there... Have you worked on that?

Being critical is not a bad thing! However, you are quite wrong.

Things scale differently, a paper model is not sufficient. It's much more complex once you go up in scale, use different materials, and need to take environmental factors of the arctic into account. Development is in many different phases. before spending the resources of sending something into space, testing on Earth is critical.

Our psychological studies are not being performed just by ourselves. We have some of the world's best extreme environment psychologists doing their own studies on the mission. Including:

Dr. Nathan Smith (University of Manchester)

Dr. Gloria R. Leon (Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota)

Dr. Patrice Rusconi (University of Surrey)

Anders Kjærgaard (Military psychology department - Denmark)

You are missing a point, we also put ourselves in the habitat because an architect has never been to space, we will learn a lot about confined living.

We have designed all elements to fit inside the empty volume when it's compacted, which was clear from early in the development.

Can I come with you?

Its going to be tight!

What are some of your inspirations for the design of your habitat? Were there any books or movies that led to certain design elements? This is a very cool project, by the way!

I love this question! We are space nerds, we love the big Sci-Fi movies, Sebastian is especially in love with Ridley Scott's work (bladerunner etc.), but we are very careful to not let that be the driving design factor. We believe Sci-Fi works on Earth, but in space, everything is "Sci-Fi" and earthern stimuli are more important, such as natural materials, plants, and nature, etc.

Will you deliberately bounce around your Arctic base, doing "the astronaut walk", to simulate the lack of gravity?

Haha, probably not. Wouldn't really simulate Moon gravity by jumping, would look funny though.

You say it expands 560% when unfolded. How does that compare to something like that Bigelowe BEAM that's currently connected to the ISS? Does your module provide a better expansion ratio than their proposed B330?

Bigelow is awesome! unfortunately, they are not doing very well right now. I think their ISS module expands something like 1100% which is quite impressive, not sure about the B330. But we think we can see some advantages to the rigid panels of origami. We will learn more after Greenland!

What are your thoughts on episode 4 ‘Lunar Habitat’ of Netflix’s new show Space Force?

We haven't seen it yet, we are too busy building the habitat. Hopefully, once we get back we can find the time!

Hi! Architecture student here! Could you tell us about your design process and what was the most difficult aspect of this project that you needed to address?

Check out my reply to u/Brikandbones further up!

Do you find there is a universal form of entertainment for humans? Ideally the future of space travel will feature the best minds from Earth, from all different backgrounds and cultures. Like you said, space could be fun and not just survival, and I think boredom can be a serious morale killer. How do you keep those minds busy and happy for all that time? Games, books, intergalactic television, cooking? Would each individual bring their own form of boredom-busting? Or would you provide some kind of built-in fun?

I don't think traditional entertainment is the big solution. These bright minds you are referring to probably want to keep on working, problem-solving, developing, researching, etc. But probably also just connecting and being social like we do on Earth. Fall in love. I think that's pretty universal.

I think they should have tools first, boardgames second ;)

Will you be recording any of the event?

Yes!

What's your vision for the future of habitats/architecture in space, say 50 years down the line?

A sustainable presence on the Moon, and a solid presence on Mars. For that, we will require habitats for humans. We hope that it includes a lot of nature and that these habitats will utilize the unique characteristics of its astronomical body. Hopefully, we learn something about how to live better on Earth as well. Earth really is great.