Challenges & Strategies for LunarHabitation Systems

Larry ToupsAdvanced Projects Office Constellation ProgramOctober 2006

2October 2006

Background

The only planetary surface habitat NASA has ever developed is the 2-person, 3-day duration Lunar Module from the 1960’s-era Apollo Program.

Today’s National Vision for Space Exploration will require safety, performance and operational requirements beyond that of the Lunar Module

Evaluating and comparing a variety of habitat configurations will provide NASA with a cost-effective basis for trades to support lunar and (eventually) Martian habitat design selection.

1960’s

2006 +

3October 2006

Background

Mission Duration (days)

0.1

1

10

100

1000

1 10 100 1000

Mercury

Voskhod

ApolloLEM

VostokGemini

STSApollo

CM Soyuz

Skylab ISS

Salyut 7

Mir

TotalPressurized

Volume(m3)/crew

Historical Space Habitat Pressurized Volume

Planetary habitats will have to address usable floor area as

well as volume

4October 2006

Habitation System

Habitats

Airlocks

Greenhouses

Resupply/Logistics

Pressurized Rover

Types of Structure

Preintegrated (modules)

Prefabricated (inflatables)

ISRU Derived

5October 2006

Habitation Strategic Challenges

Margins and Redundancy Determine crew volume and floor space requirements and acceptable margins; determine habitat system redundancy requirements for crew needs.

Reusability Use of a single habitat by multiple crews over multiple missions.

Modularity Include design solutions that result in connectable modular habitat elements for ease of expansion.

Autonomy Investigate schemes for automated deployment of habitat elements for pre-determination of system health and minimizing crew time required for habitat set-up operations.

Human Presence in Deep Space Investigate habitability systems with respect to current safety requirements, such as radiation shielding, critical systems redundancy, crew medical requirements, etc.

Reconfigurability Investigate use of movable walls, reconfigurable utility delivery schemes, and repositionable equipment and furniture.

Affordable Logistics Pre-Positioning Determine habitat-related logistics needs and logistics storage needs for single and multiple missions.

Access to Surface Targets Investigate short-distance and long-distance habitat surface mobility systems.

6October 2006

Types of Habitats

Support 42-180 day stays with reuse and dormancy

Safe-haven radiation protection for extended durations

Closure of Life Support

More required functions and greater duration drive requirements for greater volume

Ex: Volume for “preliminary examination” of samples

Ex: Dedicated IVA volume(s) for cleaning, maintenance, and repair of systems, EVA suits, and possibly rover or components

EVA suit donning, doffing, and storage

Increased medical care for immediate life saving measures and life science using dual purpose medical equipment

More robust dust mitigation including EVA “mudrooms”, greater habitat housekeeping, and maintenance

Interfaces with surface elements, such as ISRU, deployed power and thermal, and cargo resupply

Support 7-10 day stays

Open loop Life Support

Requires maintenance of consumables, such as disinfected water, and safe storage of wastes

Highly constrained living and working volumes

Drives to shared spaces and minimal habitability functions

Ex: Rehydration and warming for food

Minimal medical care and resistive exercise

No planned maintenance, only emergency spares replacement

No other surface elements to physically interface with

Sortie Outpost

7October 2006

Habitat Functional Elements

Structure and Radiation Protection

Power Management and Distribution

Life Support Thermal Control Lunar Surface

Science and Technology Demonstrations

Communications

Crew Accommodations Sleep Accommodations Operations Center Crew Personal Equipment Food Storage, Prep, and

Consumption Personal Hygiene Space Medicine and Health

Care System Adaptation and

Countermeasures Airlock and Alternate Egress

System Stowage, Inventory, and

Trash Management Supportability General and Task

Illumination

8October 2006

Habitat Interfaces and Functions

Interfaces with nearly every other surface system Power and External Thermal Navigation and Communications ISRU EVA Surface Mobility Logistics/Resupply Landers (Structure)

9October 2006

Key Technology Needs: Lunar Exploration

Structure and Radiation Protection

Power Management and Distribution

Life Support

Thermal Control

Lunar Surface Science and Technology Demonstrations

Communications

• Structures• Lightweight cryotanks• Inflatable space structures

• Protection• Ablative, human-rated TPS• Lightweight radiation protection• Dust and contaminant mitigation

• Propulsion• LOX/Methane propulsion system for CEV• 5 - 20 klbf thrust deep throttleable engine for LSAM• Non-toxic RCS thrusters• Expendable SSMEs

• Power• Fuel cells• Lithium-ion batteries• Non-toxic Auxiliary Power Unit for CLV

• Thermal Control• Heat rejection for surface systems

• Avionics & Software• Rad hard & low temperature electronics• Integrated System Health Management• Spacecraft autonomy• Automated Rendezvous & Docking• Autonomous precision landing• Reliable software

• Environmental Control & Life Support• Atmospheric management• Environmental monitoring & control• Advanced air & water recovery systems

• Crew Support & Accommodations• EVA suit• Crew health care systems• Habitability systems

• Mechanisms• Low temperature mechanisms

• In-Situ Resource Utilization• Regolith excavation & material handling• Oxygen production from regolith• Polar volatile collection & separation

• Analysis & Integration• Tool development for architecture & mission analysis• Technology investment portfolio assessments

• Operations• Supportability• Human-system interaction• Surface handling & operations equipment• Surface mobility

• Structures• Lightweight cryotanks• Inflatable space structures

• Protection• Ablative, human-rated TPS• Lightweight radiation protection• Dust and contaminant mitigation

• Propulsion• LOX/Methane propulsion system for CEV• 5 - 20 klbf thrust deep throttleable engine for LSAM• Non-toxic RCS thrusters• Expendable SSMEs

• Power• Fuel cells• Lithium-ion batteries• Non-toxic Auxiliary Power Unit for CLV

• Thermal Control• Heat rejection for surface systems

• Avionics & Software• Rad hard & low temperature electronics• Integrated System Health Management• Spacecraft autonomy• Automated Rendezvous & Docking• Autonomous precision landing• Reliable software

• Environmental Control & Life Support• Atmospheric management• Environmental monitoring & control• Advanced air & water recovery systems

• Crew Support & Accommodations• EVA suit• Crew health care systems• Habitability systems

• Mechanisms• Low temperature mechanisms

• In-Situ Resource Utilization• Regolith excavation & material handling• Oxygen production from regolith• Polar volatile collection & separation

• Analysis & Integration• Tool development for architecture & mission analysis• Technology investment portfolio assessments

• Operations• Supportability• Human-system interaction• Surface handling & operations equipment• Surface mobility

Habitat Functional Elements

Crew Accommodations Sleep Accommodations Operations Center Crew Personal Equipment Food Storage, Prep, and

Consumption Personal Hygiene Space Medicine and Health Care

System Adaptation and

Countermeasures Airlock and Alternate Egress

System Stowage, Inventory, and Trash

Management Supportability General and Task Illumination

10October 2006

Habitation Operational Challenges

Radiation Protection

General Radiation. The Habitat will have to provide general radiation protection against accumulated dosage while living in the Habitat.

Single High Dose Events. The Habitat will have to act as the “safe haven” for high dose radiation events. The requirement could be for as long as 4 days to “shelter in place”.

Dust Mitigation. The Habitat will be required to provide a means to deal with the regolith that will accumulate during surface EVAs.

Maintenance and Repair. The Habitat will be required to provide for maintenance and repair of EVA system hardware. The location for this stowage and the amount of volume required could be a major consideration in internal layout of the Habitat.

EVA Consumable Plug-ins. The Habitat will need to provide a primary plug-in location for EVA consumables. There should also be additional plug-in ports around the perimeter and inside the Habitat (in the event of depressurization).

EVA

11October 2006

Habitation Operational Challenges

Glovebox Interface. The Habitat will need to provide a volume with a glovebox to the exterior for “preliminary examination” of samples.

Interaction with Earth-based Experts. The Habitat will also need to provide an interactive capability for conferencing with scientific experts on Earth.

Lunar Surface Science

Dormancy Periods. The Habitat will need to survive during possible dormancy periods when crews might not be present. In some cases, this could be for months at one time.

Power

12October 2006

Post- Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) work has focused on optimizing the space transportation system Earth-Moon-Earth

Next phases of Constellation Program definition will address surface mission operational concepts and requirements (Sortie, Outpost)

Advanced Project Office will be responsible for formulating the operational concepts and requirements

Habitation Systems will be a key component Keep in mind - while we will be using our lunar experience as a test-bed for

Mars, we need to also use Earth analogs to learn from the experience that already exists in other extreme environments

Future Considerations - Habitation

13October 2006

Thank you! Thank you!